Experiences Accessing Health and Social Services during and after Natural Disasters among People Who Use Drugs in Houston, Texas
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Study Setting
3. Materials and Methods
4. Results
4.1. Participant Characteristics
4.2. Health Service Needs and Access
4.2.1. Access to Medical Care
Participant: You know, I did email [about getting medical care] because I’m a diabetic.
Interviewer: Oh, so you’re diabetic and you needed medical care during [Hurricane] Ike?
Participant: I needed medical care. Hospital wasn’t hardly functioning, and if you wasn’t just… had a branch sticking out your hand and now got coldcocked by something that fell, head split open, or you just got money just to go there and have it taken care of… It take time, like a doctor, I can’t afford to go to the doctor.
Let’s say [wealthy neighborhoods], they’ve got millions of dollars in the area. […] You guarantee you’re going to get better services out of that area because the amount of tax dollars, the amount that’s being put into it. If God forbid they flood, you’re going to have everybody and God come to there. You put it down here, let’s say [impoverished neighborhood] over here and they get flooded, well, there’s just not enough money.
When you did have like medical teams and units come through that would set up their little white little bone-looking things and going, “Hey, this is not to trap you to have you come here and we run your ID and find out you got warrants or searches, you got drugs on you. This here just to check you out physically”.
4.2.2. Access to SUD-Related Services
However, Harvey, which… I don’t know if you remember. It flooded the whole city up. you couldn’t get your medication [for opioid use disorder]. […] It was a majorly disaster. Finally, the doctor at the [medical clinic] opened up a clinic at the [public location], and he was giving methadone out to people, but other than that, you were screwed if you didn’t have anything. […] People were getting sick and everything. […] Of course, you panic. You’re scared. You’re not sure what’s going to happen.
Because you’re doing more drugs at that time [of the disaster]. It will probably be your stress levels going to play a big part in it, too. […] some people might start doing more heroin, they can OD [overdose]. Because they’re doing too much, because they’re sad. You know what I’m saying? So they want to numb the pain more. And they can do a little bit too much. And then, there’s not no Narcan, because- because it’s hard to get it.
4.3. Practical Needs and Social Service Access
4.3.1. Importance of Housing and Shelter
4.3.2. Mutual Aid
Texas people have a hospitality. […] And when stuff gets going wrong like that, like a disaster, we can open up our hearts and our homes to people and take people in.
4.3.3. Post-Disaster Financial Support
Applying for [disaster-related government aid], I thought it was just, oh man, the city’s too big. […] It’s too big. When you’re trying to apply for services, okay, yeah, I mean, you’re trying to get either aid, whether it be money, food, shelter, stuff like that. Well, either the phone lines they’re overwhelmed so they shut down. You can’t get ahold of somebody. You don’t know who to call. […] No. I mean, you look up right now, even on the internet, I mean, you look up Houston city services. Okay. I tried to look up child welfare. There must be 40, 50 numbers in that and it’s just- […] Literally 50 numbers.
5. Discussion
Limitations
6. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Paquette, C.E.; Danns, T.; Bordeaux, M.; Cullins, Z.; Brinkley-Rubinstein, L. Experiences Accessing Health and Social Services during and after Natural Disasters among People Who Use Drugs in Houston, Texas. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2024, 21, 1169. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21091169
Paquette CE, Danns T, Bordeaux M, Cullins Z, Brinkley-Rubinstein L. Experiences Accessing Health and Social Services during and after Natural Disasters among People Who Use Drugs in Houston, Texas. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2024; 21(9):1169. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21091169
Chicago/Turabian StylePaquette, Catherine E., Tasia Danns, Margaret Bordeaux, Zaire Cullins, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein. 2024. "Experiences Accessing Health and Social Services during and after Natural Disasters among People Who Use Drugs in Houston, Texas" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 21, no. 9: 1169. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21091169