The Tribune

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Deputy Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

HEALTH officials are concerned post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression could be affecting a large number of Hurricane Dorian victims from Abaco and Grand Bahama.

This is a “massive problem” that gives rise to the possibility of increased suicides among victims and even some first responders, according to Health Minister Dr Duane Sands yesterday.

Officials have no definitive number of how many could be affected, but it is speculated that as many as 10 percent of the 75,000 residents from those storm ravaged islands may be at risk.

If this is so, Dr Sands said it would be a “logistic nightmare” as Ministry of Health officials would be left scrambling to identify their capacity to work with these individuals.

“Some of us are not going to be able to manage,” Dr Sands told The Tribune yesterday as he underscored the seriousness of the issue.

His sobering view of the situation followed a revelation in Parliament by Golden Gates MP Michael Foulkes who told the House of Assembly 60 percent of patients in the aftermath of the storm needed anti-depressants.

Mr Foulkes, who is parliamentary secretary of the Ministry of Social Services, said he stumbled upon the details after spending a few weeks assisting at an emergency hurricane shelter.

“On one occasion while at the Fox Hill shelter, medicine supplies were low and I was asked to assist in securing a list of 25 of them,” he told Parliament. “I suggested to Dr Petra Forbes that the most important medicines were to be identified.

“Dr Forbes indicated that the most important of the 25 listed was the anti-depression medication. She further indicated that over 60 percent of all the persons treated needed antidepressants.”

Six weeks following Dorian’s passage, Dr Sands said this is only the tip of the iceberg.

He said: “Just think about the number of people that have lost family members and how long it is going to take to help them get over it; to help them to be able function and then imagine the number of people that have lost their homes that have to start over.

“This has been a defining moment for the people of the Bahamas and it is going to be particularly challenging to deal with the emotional psychological mental aspects.

“You know the broken bones, the lacerations, they were dealt with pretty easily but dealing with the problems that people don’t even realise they have as they have difficulty sleeping, as they have difficulty interacting with their families, their coworkers. When they find that they can’t concentrate, that they start having flash backs and that can happen now a month from now, six months from now.

“We are trying to determine how to sustain this response but I will tell you that it is a massive problem.”

Health officials don’t have an accurate account of those that could be affected and Dr Sands admitted they had not interviewed every single person to glean any numbers.

“Based on sampling, if you look at sample size and look at the number of people in the sample size that have manifestation of anxiety, depression, PTSD (or) whatever, I think that as a rule of thumb it’s possible that that number (7,500) is realistic.

“Bear in mind that we haven’t done a whole lot of canvassing people in New Providence, people in Exuma, people in Acklins (and) Crooked Island some of them can develop PTSD because of what happened in Abaco because of the images that they’ve seen and because of the conversations that they’ve had related to somebody who is now missing.”

He said it was also possible that some members of Parliament, relief workers and first responders were also struggling with these issues.

“There are a number of people who have been at this for six weeks straight, police officers, defense force officers, nurses, doctors people working on the repair of the infrastructure and so on and so forth. Think about the people that are finding remains of dead persons. Think about the people who have had to deal with the anguish of people who have no clothes and have no food.

“This isn’t an ordinary event in the life of the Bahamas. You add to that the baseline stress and drama that was high to begin with.”

Dr Sands said efforts to combat this situation will have to increase.

“We are acting as if we are not only aware of the problem, but we haven’t yet gotten our hands around it. So this is not an issue now where we can relax.

“We’ve got to escalate our efforts and escalate it in a big way.”

The Elizabeth MP said resources are available through a number of private sector psychologists and psychiatrists who have made support counselling services free of charge.

Help is also available at Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre and Rand Memorial Hospital.

The Bahamian Psychological Association has further established relationships with a number of nongovernmental organisations that are preparing to begin efforts to sustain to ensure help remains available.

However, he said, this is not a sprint but a marathon, adding that there was a very long way to go.