After witnessing how Hurricane Ida affected the mental health of her colleagues, Louisiana resident Kentrell Jones started a mindfulness program to help participants treat stress.
Participants meet for an hour once a week for six weeks beginning with the inaugural session this fall and plans for future sessions next year.
The program hits on a growing concern — the long-term stress that extreme weather events such as hurricanes can take on the people who live through them. People who work in hurricane-affected areas often talk about the stress the long rebuilding process can take on people and the anxiety stirred up during hurricane season.
Another study published earlier this year looked at mortality rates for counties that experienced a tropical cyclone over a 30-year period, from 1988 to 2018. The research found there were increases for certain types of deaths, including cardiovascular and respiratory disease in the six months after landfall — suggesting death tolls often tabulated in the initial weeks after a storm might be undercounted.
The stress has taken a toll on Mace's health with her blood pressure jumping up and down. Her doctor recommended meditation and then she ran into Jones, who recruited her for the course. Mace said it has helped her learn techniques to deal with the stress and also to know she's not alone."You think you’re dealing. You think you’re fine. You’re not. Listening to other people made it better," Mace said.
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