On the 12th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, another devastating hurricane and flooding situation is ongoing with Hurricane Harvey in the Houston area. But there are some new lessons learned from Katrina when it comes to the impact of hurricanes on people with diabetes: preventative ethics.
On the 10th anniversary of Katrina, I wrote this, which largely reminded us about the terrible health disparities in plain view among a largely African American population of hurricane victims: http://endocrineethicsblog.org/2015/08/
Since Katrina, the endocrine community has become much more aware of the impact of natural disasters when it comes to diabetes care. Here are some “real time” postings in anticipation of Hurricane Harvey, and the large diabetic population that is being affected.
Several diabetes organizations and drug companies are now offering targeted help to people with diabetes, on display here:
https://www.diabetesdaily.com/blog/helping-hurricane-harvey-victims-with-diabetes-477597/
https://diatribe.org/hurricane-harvey-diabetes
With more hurricanes to come in 2017, diabetes disaster planning, at least, has gotten a little better from the painful lessons of Katrina. But how many hurricanes will it take for there to be recognition that climate change is a public health menace, requiring major reform in carbon emissions policy? “The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind…”