Hurricane Relief Program in Louisiana Garners Criticism

A Louisiana program intended to provide mental health care to survivors of Hurricane Katrina is coming under fire from experts who say the $52.4-million federally financed effort is ineffective, The Times-Picayune, in New Orleans, reports.

State officials are funneling money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to several local charities to carry out the mental-health effort. But they say they are frustrated that the government says the money can be used only for what it calls, “crisis counseling,” which cannot go beyond five sessions and can’t include long-term mental-health services.

Simon Wessely, a professor of psychiatry at King’s College London, and a crisis-counseling expert, says no proof exists that such short-term efforts do people any good.

Elmore Rigamer, a psychiatrist who works at Catholic Charities of New Orleans, one of the beneficiaries of the government program, says Mr. Wessely’s criticism has merit, but it fails to take into account the scope of damage caused by the hurricanes.

However, he admitted the program needs rethinking. “We are getting micromanaged on this by FEMA,” he said.

Federal-government officials did not respond to the newspaper’s request for comment on the program.