BP not responding to mental health agencies’ plea for assistance

State health agencies from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama are overwhelmed with the burgeoning demands on their services from Gulf Coast residents needing help from the BP oil spill.

But despite their requests for assistance to help fund growing mental health services and monitoring, BP has not even bothered to give a response.

The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals sent the company a letter on June 28 requesting $10 million to deal with the “ongoing challenge” of those people who have lost their jobs and seen their lives turned upside down. It first requested assistance on May 28 but has yet to hear anything from BP. The stress is driven by factors including families’ inability to pay their bills.

Kindra Arnesen, director of Wives of Commercial Fishermen, said her own children and other relatives have become sick from what she believes to be contaminated air caused from the oil in the Gulf.

Source: Reuters