MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS

“Still, local emergency managers understand they aren’t reaching everyone, said David Abramson, who studies disaster response at New York University’s School of Global Public Health.

‘They know that they’ve got to figure out ways to reach people, and I think in the past, the answer has been using their networks of community based providers to reach out to particularly vulnerable groups and populations.’”

“Economic losses brought on by stressors like job loss or ongoing home repairs in the months and years following a disaster strongly link to ongoing psychological distress, says Alexis Merdjanoff, a public health sociologist at New York University.

‘We tend to only address the mental health needs directly related to immediate exposure. It’s really these longer-term needs that get overlooked.’”

“…there are psychological effects, which can damage physical health. David Abramson, a clinical professor at New York University’s School of Global Public Health, followed a group of Katrina survivors for years. He noticed an increase in substance abuse over time, which could be connected to the trauma of seeing their lives upended.

‘A lot of these folks were working really hard, climbing the ladder — all of a sudden, some event drops them back to the bottom of a ladder, and that’s very dispiriting,’ said Dr. Abramson, who also reviewed the study. ‘It leads to a fatalism, giving up a little bit, risk behaviors.’”

“‘Sometimes it’s not just the severity of the traumatic experience — it’s the frequency, said Alexis Merdjanoff, co-investigator in a transit worker study conducted by New York University. “The verbal abuse is much more frequent, and we’re noticing that it has a really big impact on anxiety and depression and overall mental wellbeing.’

Classes that help people feel they have some control over stressful situations give them tools to call upon, such as breathing techniques, said Merdjanoff, the co-investigator in the NYU study.”

Ali Velshi talks with Robyn Gershon, a clinical professor of epidemiology at the New York University School of Global Public Health, about what individuals, companies, and communities should be preparing for a possible coronavirus outbreak.

“‘More than half of all Americans do not prepare for disasters,’ says Robyn Gershon, a clinical professor of epidemiology at the New York University College of Global Public Health.

Gershon studies what helps and hinders preparedness—for instance, how nurses fared working in challenging conditions during Hurricane Sandy. Her work—which includes more than a dozen large-scale studies of disasters—has informed policy and practice. Her World Trade Center Evacuation Study, for example, helped lead to the first changes in New York City’s high-rise fire safety codes in more than 30 years.”