Flint’s Water Crisis Takes Mental Toll On Residents
With people experiencing high anxiety and distress, health workers are scrambling to provide “psychological first aid.” In other lead contamination news, parents and health providers in Washington state are being warned that water is not the only risk for exposure.
The New York Times:
A Potent Side Effect To The Flint Water Crisis: Mental Health Problems
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 open-ended 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. (Goodnough and Atkinson, 4/30)
The Seattle Times:
High Lead Levels In Kids Not Just Linked To Water
Amid renewed questions about lead in local drinking water, Washington health officials say 365 young children in the state posted blood-lead levels last year high enough to potentially cause harm. But they caution that’s just a fraction of the 20,000 tests of kids ages 6 and younger submitted to the state Department of Health in 2015. The majority showed no sign of trouble. (Aleccia, 4/30)
