According to the coroner's office in New Orleans, the city's suicide rate nearly tripled in the months after Katrina. A suicide rate of nine per 100,000 residents jumped to almost 27 per 100,000 residents.
…The New Orleans police department operates a "crisis unit" that helps people who need to be protected from harming themselves. Sgt. Ben Glaudi, the man who started the unit 24 years ago, says there has been a dramatic increase in the rate of people who need to be helped.
Image from a Chicago Tribune slide show of photographs from New Orleans’ lower 9th ward taken by Pete Souza nine months after Katrina. You can view this very moving slide show here.
Claire has some information on helping restock NOLA’s libraries. I’m highlighting that in particular, even though there are still many more ways to help, because although of course there is a continuing need for donations, for tangible items, for money, surely lifting spirits in New Orleans is dependent on breathing life, slowly but surely, back into its culture, too.
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