Mental health an issue in Flint
Crisis takes toll on locals, causing stress, uncertainty
FLINT, Mich. — Health care workers are scrambling to help the people here cope with what many fear will be chronic consequences of the city’s water contamination crisis: profound stress, worry, depression and guilt.
Uncertainty about their own health and the health of their children, the openended nature of the crisis, and raw anger over government’s role in both causing the lead contamination and trying to remedy it, are all taking their toll on Flint’s residents.
“The first thing I noticed when I got to Flint, quite honestly, was the level of fear and anxiety and distress,” said Dr. Nicole Lurie, an assistant secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services who has been coordinating the federal recovery effort here since January. On Wednesday, President Barack Obama will pay his first visit to the city since the lead contamination was revealed.
A team of behavioral health specialists from the U.S. Public Health Service began addressing the mental health problem in February by providing “psychological first aid” training for people interested in helping others cope with the water emergency.
Genesee Health System, a local mental health agency, also created the Flint Community Resilience Group, whose members are focusing on the longterm psychological consequences of the water crisis and how to address them.
With a $500,000 emergency grant from the state, the group is offering free crisis counseling at churches and the public library and has held two community meetings on stress management. Social workers and social work students are helping with the counseling on a volunteer basis.
Diane Breckenridge, Genesee Health’s liaison to local hospitals, said she had seen “people come into the hospitals directly related to breakdowns, nervous breakdowns, if you will.”
“Most of it’s been depression or suicidal ideation directly linked to what’s going on with their children,” she added. “They just feel like they can’t even let their children take a bath.”
Maelores Collins blames the water for a problem that deeply troubles her: Her hair has broken off over the past six months.
Her self-prescribed therapy consists of cruising the aisles of Wal-Mart or playing bid whist, a card game, with friends. A few months ago, her doctor also prescribed Xanax, a tranquilizer, which she takes “to get up” in the morning, she said.
“I’m depressed; I’m angry; my anxiety is running high,” said Collins, a former construction worker who has asthma and is on permanent disability.
Worse off, she said, is her 12-year-old grandson, who refuses to drink even bottled water and will eat only off paper plates. The family jumped several hurdles to secure a psychiatric appointment for him in early May.
“He’s freaking out — he’s like, ‘We’re all going to die from the water,’ ” Collins said. “I said, ‘You’re young, you ain’t going nowhere.’ But I can’t convince this boy.”
Collins called the situation “crazy.”
“This thing,” she said, “will never be over.”