Orlando backed out of talks with Pulse responder?

Orlando backed out of settlement with officer suffering PTSD after Pulse, wife says
Orlando Sentinel
David Harris
August 7, 2018

The wife of a retired Orlando police officer diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after the massacre at Pulse nightclub said the city has backed out of a proposed settlement in his workers’ compensation lawsuit.

Orlando Police officer Gerry Realin was part of the small hazmat team that was responsible for removing the bodies from Pulse nightclub. He now struggles with PTSD and blood pressure so high he was recently admitted to the hospital.

Gerry Realin was rendered permanently disabled after working on the team that removed bodies from Pulse after the attack in June 2016, which left him with PTSD according to the lawsuit.

He is suing the city and the Orlando Police Department in Orange County circuit court, claiming lost wages and medical benefits, as well as Occupational Safety and Health Administration violations.

His wife Jessica Realin said the parties met for mediation in June and came to a proposed settlement, but her attorney called her Monday to say the city backed out of the deal.

She declined to say what the settlement was.

“Gerry wanted to move on,” his wife said. “He felt like he wanted to be completely separated [from the city]. He didn’t feel like he could handle trial. I guess the city wants a trial.”
read more here

Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales take case to Supreme Court?

Lawyers claim anti-malaria drug to blame in US soldier's Afghan massacre
ABC News
By ELIZABETH MCLAUGHLIN
May 16, 2018

In July 2013, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) even revised its warning label for the drug, saying rare but sometimes permanent side effects include "dizziness, loss of balance, and ringing in the ears," as well as "feeling anxious, mistrustful, depressed, or having hallucinations."

Lawyers for former Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to consider that the malaria drug mefloquine may have played a role in Bales' murder of 16 Afghan civilians during his deployment.

On March 11, 2012, Bales was on his fourth combat tour stationed in Panjwai District of Kandahar Provence, Afghanistan when he left his post and killed 16 Afghans, including women and children, in two nearby villages.

In August, 2013, Bales was sentenced to life without parole by a military jury.

Hamid Karzai, president of Afghanistan at the time, suggested the U.S. should try and hang Bales.

At the time, the soldier was taking medication to prevent malaria called mefloquine, which his lawyers argue contributed to his behavior that night. They are now petitioning the Supreme Court to review the case, saying government prosecutors did not disclose that Bales was ordered to take the drug before and during his deployment.

Court records show that after Bales' first deployment to Iraq in 2004 he complained of memory impairment and depression. And after later deployments, he complained about insomnia, irritability, anger, decreased ability to concentrate, and memory impairment.
read more here

Las Vegas Victims Fund Raised $31.5 Million

$275K going to family of each person slain in Vegas shooting
Associated Press
By KEN RITTER AND ANITA SNOW
Published: March 2, 2018

Victims fund spokesman Howard Stutz said the nonprofit expects to pay 100 percent of the funds raised, with payouts beginning Monday.

Manuela Barela passes crosses set up to honor those killed during the mass shooting in Las Vegas. GREGORY BULL/AP

Police say 851 people were hurt by gunfire or other injuries while fleeing. LAS VEGAS — A $31.5 million victims' fund that started as a GoFundMe effort announced plans Friday to pay $275,000 to the families of each of the 58 people killed in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

The Las Vegas Victims Fund said the maximum $275,000 also will be paid to 10 other people who were paralyzed or suffered permanent brain damage in the Oct. 1 shooting on the Las Vegas Strip.

The nonprofit posted a chart projecting payments on a scale to a total of 532 people, including more than $10 million divided among 147 people who were hospitalized.
read more here

Congressman Brian Mast says ban assault weapons

Republican, veteran and gun rights supporter Brian Mast says assault weapons should be banned
Tampa Bay Times
Alex Leary
February 25, 2018

We "must unite with one mission: that no one will ever be murdered in school again," Mast says

WASHINGTON – Congressman Brian Mast, R-Palm City, has as much authority on guns as anyone, having served in the Army and losing both legs in Afghanistan. He says assault weapons such as the AR-15 should be banned.

"I cannot support the primary weapon I used to defend our people being used to kill children I swore to defend," Mast, who represents a swing district and faces a tough re-election, writes in an op/ed for the New York Times.

"The Second Amendment is unimpeachable. It guarantees the right of citizens to defend themselves. I accept, however, that it does not guarantee that every civilian can bear any and all arms.

"For example, the purchase of fully automatic firearms is largely banned already, and I cannot purchase an AT-4 rocket, grenades, a Bradley fighting vehicle or an Abrams tank. I know that no single action can prevent a truly determined person from committing mass murder, and I am aware of other ways to commit mass murder, such as bombings and mass vehicular slaughter. Not being able to control everything, however, should not prevent us from doing something."
read more here

Army honors heroic cadets after latest school shooting

Army awards heroism medals to JROTC cadets killed in Florida school shooting
FOX News
By Lucia I. Suarez Sang
February 20, 2018

Three junior ROTC cadets who were killed in the Florida high school shooting last week will be honored with heroism medals by the U.S. Army.

A spokesman for the U.S. Army told Fox News on Tuesday that Cadet Command approved Junior ROTC Heroism Medals for cadets Alaina Petty, Peter Wang and Martin Duque.

The family of Petty, 14, were presented the medal during her funeral service Monday, at which more than 1,500 people attended to pay their respects.

Wang’s family received his medal at his service Tuesday morning.

According to students and teachers, Wang, 15, died in his junior ROTC uniform while helping students, teachers and staff escape from the shooting rampage.

An online petition to the White House sought to give Wang military honors at his funeral. It had more than 43,700 signatures as of Tuesday.

“His selfless and heroic actions have led to the survival of dozens in the area. Wang died a hero, and deserves to be treated as such, and deserves a full honors military burial,” the petition said.
read more here

Students did the best they could that day. Teachers did the best they could that day too. Parents did the best they could when they sent them off to school that day.

So, why didn't politicians do the best they could long before this day? Oh, now I remember. They kept saying "now is not the time" to talk about any of this. Looks like they're going to have to talk now and explain why they never did anything about any of this after so many kids didn't make it home from school on too many other days!

As Florida Students Head to State Capital, Lawmakers Fail to Take Up Assault Rifle Bill

Las Vegas Shooting Survivors Still Wait for Help

Vegas Strong Fund pays 12 Las Vegas shooting victims — then stops
Las Vegas Review Journal
Nicole Raz
December 29, 2017

P.J. DeMasseo, a survivor of the Oct. 1 Las Vegas shooting, cashed a check for $1,000 Friday from the Vegas Strong Fund.

Survivors of the Oct. 1 Las Vegas shooting--Jennifer Holub (left), Heather Gooze and Stacie Armentrout discuss ways to deliver immediate financial assistance to survivors and families of the 58 who died in the shooting in Las Vegas, Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2017. Nicole Raz/Las Vegas Review-Journal

He is one of 12 people who received checks this week from the nonprofit totaling $14,800.

He also could be one of the last.

The checks — ranging in amounts from $200 to $3,900 — mark the first distributions to Oct. 1 victims by a nonprofit established in response to the shooting. But it was unclear Friday whether additional victims would receive money from the fund.

The Vegas Strong Fund is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit created by the Nevada resort industry after the shooting. The Las Vegas Victims’ Fund, a separate 501(c)(3) nonprofit that has raised more than $22 million for victims of the Strip mass shooting — and gained far more attention than the Vegas Strong Fund — isn’t expected to distribute money until March. Many victims have expressed concern with that timeline because they have immediate financial needs, and others won’t qualify for assistance from the Victims’ Fund at all.

Enter the Vegas Strong Fund. The $14,800 came from more than $12 million in commitments and cash collected so far. Most recipients will not qualify for assistance from the Las Vegas Victims’ Fund, which will benefit those who suffered physical injuries and the families of those killed.
read more here

Pulse Heroic Officer Out of Job Because of PTSD?

UPDATE
Eatonville officer who saved victims during Pulse attack still losing job, but will get pension
By: WFTV Web Staff UPDATE

UPDATE

Community raises funds for Pulse first responder with PTSD who's losing jobPeople from across the world have raised more than $30,000 for a Pulse first responder with post-traumatic stress disorder who is being terminated by the Eatonville Police Department.  
Cpl. Omar Delgado was left with severe PTSD after being one of the first officers to respond to the mass shooting at the gay nightclub Pulse on June 12, 2016. The massacre left 49 people dead and more than 68 wounded, including survivor Angel Colón, whom Delgado dragged out of the club. read more here

What kind of a message does this send to First Responders across the country?

“I guess I’m being punished, because I did cry for help,” Delgado said.

What kind of message does this send to veterans with PTSD and the troops still afraid to speak up about needing help?

These are the same people who risk their lives for everyone else, and now they are still risking their own lives because they do not get the help they need when they need it!

After you read this story, maybe you can explain how this is still happening?

9 Investigates: Pulse hero let go from Eatonville Police Department

WFTV News
Karla Ray
December 4, 2017

“I was able to save Angel, and I wouldn't trade it for the world, but now I suffer through my agony,” Delgado told Ray about his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

EATONVILLE, Fla. - 9 Investigates learned an Eatonville Police officer, who was called a hero after pulling Pulse survivor Angel Colon to safety during the June 2016 attack, is now being let go from his department. 

Investigative Reporter Karla Ray obtained a town resolution that is being voted on during an upcoming meeting, that would pay out some of officer Omar Delgado’s accrued sick time.  It states that his last day will be December 31.

No one from the town would comment on the reason for separation, but Delgado told 9 Investigates he believes he’s being pushed out due to his PTSD.  He admits that an evaluation showed he was unfit for duty, and the town will not allow him to stay on light duty.

Delgado has been with the department for nine and a half years, putting him just shy of the tenure he needs to receive retirement benefits from the town.
read more here

UPDATE
This story got to me and good time to remind folks what happens when they do not get help after taking care of us.

This is from yesterday,

BRIDGEPORT, CT — Police are investigating after a Bridgeport police officer is suspected to have committed suicide in Seaside Park, reports the Connecticut Post. There was a heavy police presence at the park for nearly two hours after a man was found unresponsive in his silver car with city of Bridgeport license plates.

And this is how 2017 started

Second cop commits suicide on Staten Island this month 

About two weeks ago, NYPD Officer Yong Yun — a former borough cop of the month...

Sgt. Freddy Dietz Jr., 53, had been with SAPD since 1983. He served as the city jailer when the SAPD had its own jail.

His father, Fred Dietz Sr., also was an SAPD officer, beginning in 1966 and retiring as a lieutenant in 1997. 

His father said he was struggling to understand the situation. He said his son loved being a police officer and helped a lot of people during his career.

*******

According to Karen Solomon, founder of Blue HELP, which raises awareness of officer suicide and advocates for mental health benefits, six police officers have died from suicide in Massachusetts in 2017. Another five Massachusetts officers died from suicide in 2016, compared with two killed in the line of duty.

*******

After Derek Fish finished his patrol last Friday afternoon, the sheriff’s deputy drove his cruiser to his department’s regional headquarters in Columbia, S.C., and parked in the back.It had, for all purposes, been a normal shift, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott would later say.Fish had answered calls. Made an arrest. Written a report.“And then, for some unknown reason, he did what he did,” Lott said.Using his service weapon, Fish killed himself inside his patrol car.The deputy was 28. He didn’t leave a note.

******* 

An off-duty police officer fatally shot himself at his Queens home Sunday afternoon, police said.The 37-year-old male officer, whose name has not been released, was found dead before 3 p.m. at 113th Ave. by 205th St. in St. Albans, police said.Not including Sunday’s death, four active NYPD officers committed suicide this year, according to NYPD stats. 

In 2016, four officers and one school safety agent killed themselves.

******* 

A 47-year-old Chicago police officer was found dead Sunday in a possible suicide, two years after her sergeant husband appeared to take his own life under mysterious circumstances.Cops say Dina Markham was found by a family member in her bathtub on Sunday after taking pills, the Chicago Tribune reported. Her death is being investigated as a suicide.

Mandalay Bay Survivor Killed By Hit-and-Run Driver

Man who survived Las Vegas shooting killed in hit-and-run
Associated Press
November 25, 2017

LAS VEGAS
A man who survived the Oct. 1 mass shooting that killed 58 concert-goers and injured hundreds in Las Vegas has been killed in a hit-and-run in southern Nevada.

Roy McClellan of Las Vegas was killed Nov. 17 while hitchhiking on State Route 160 in Pahrump, about 50 miles west of Las Vegas.

His widow, Denise McClellan, told KSNV-TV she can't understand why her 52-year-old husband survived the shooting, only to die in a hit-and-run. She says the mass shooting "was messing with his head" and that he was undergoing therapy.
read more here

First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs Begins Again

One week later: Texas church members gather for first Sunday service after mass shooting

USA Today Network
Author: John C Moritz
November 12, 2017

“Do not allow the lives that were lost or changed, to be in vain,” he said. Then his voice cracked, and he had to pause. The congregation stood to applaud. He regained his voice: “I know everyone who gave their life that day. Some of them were my best friends —and my daughter.”read more here

Shooting at Church 27 People Killed and 27 Injured

At least 27 dead, more than two dozen injured in shooting at rural Texas church

ABC news

M. L. Nestel and Emily Shapiro

November 5, 2017

At least 27 people were killed and 27 others injured in a mass shooting at a church in rural Texas this morning, a law enforcement official told ABC News.

The alleged shooter, who has not been identified, is dead following the massacre in Sutherland Springs, about 40 miles southeast of San Antonio, authorities said.

Among those killed at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs was a 14-year-old girl named Annabelle Renee Pomeroy, according to her father, Frank Pomeroy, who is a pastor at the church.

read more here

Some Reporters Doing More Harm Than Good

(My two cents is that this article is very true, but also applies to man on social media.)

Some media covering Las Vegas shooting accused of doing more harm

News 1130

Marcella Bernardo

Associated Press

October 8, 2017

"Miller, who treats sufferers of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, says the last thing you should say to someone who’s been through a trauma is "'You’re lucky to be alive.'"

Melissa Gerber, left, Nancy Hardy, center, and Sandra Serralde, all of Las Vegas, embrace as they look on crosses in honor of those killed in the mass shooting Friday, Oct. 6, 2017, in Las Vegas. A gunman opened fire on an outdoor music concert on Sunday killing dozens and injuring hundreds.(AP Photo/Gregory Bull) 

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – A local psychologist is worried about the impact on survivors of the Las Vegas massacre, saying some TV reporters are deliberately inciting an emotional response with their interview questions.

Doctor Lawrence Miller says it’s not a good idea for reporters to act as amateur psychologists for survivors or first responders who might be traumatized.

“So that’s really risky. If you go up to someone in the crowd in Las Vegas and you say, ‘Oh, you know, you’re lucky to be alive,’ the person may be just kind of still trying to formulate, like, what all this means.  Well, what the person hears is, ‘I could have been killed’ and that is the kind of thought process that can begin the development of post-traumatic stress disorder.”

He adds certain questions are deliberately asked with the goal of prompting tears, but that’s dangerous when dealing with someone who’s mentally fragile.

“When someone’s been through trauma like that, the worst thing you can do is start saying how they should be feeling and ‘You must be the luckiest guy alive, you know, you’re lucky to be alive. 
read more here

Lt. Derrick “Bo” Taylor, Corrections Officer Honored After Las Vegas Shooting

Veteran Corrections Officer Killed In Vegas Massacre Remembered As A Hero

CBS Los Angeles

October 7, 2017

BURBANK (CBSLA) — A veteran corrections officer killed in the Las Vegas massacre was welcomed home in true hero fashion Saturday.

Family and colleagues of Lt. Derrick “Bo” Taylor gathered at Burbank’s Bob Hope Airport, where his body was flown Saturday morning.

On the tarmac, members of the color guard draped a flag over his casket; corrections officers then carefully loaded it into a van as part of a procession in his honor. 

Taylor and his girlfriend, Denise Cohen, of Carpinteria, were among the 59 people shot and killed at the country music festival in Las Vegas.

read more here 

Jason Aldean Tribute to Las Vegas Victims and Survivors

Jason Aldean Pays Tribute to Las Vegas Victims, Sings Tom Petty Song on ‘SNL’
NBC News
by PHIL HELSEL
October 8, 2017

Jason Aldean, the musician who was on stage when a gunman opened fire on a crowd of Las Vegas concert-goers this week, opened "Saturday Night Live" with a tribute to those affected by the massacre and a musical nod to recently-deceased rock legend Tom Petty.

The show skipped the traditional joke-filled cold open and began with Aldean on stage.

"This week we witnessed one of the worst tragedies in American history. Like everyone, I'm struggling to understand what happened that night, and how to pick up the pieces and start to heal.” Jason Aldean
read more here

"You can stand me up at the gates of hell
But I won't back down
No, I'll stand my ground
Won't be turned around
And I'll keep this world from draggin' me down
Gonna stand my ground"

Saturday Night Live
Published on Oct 7, 2017

Jason Aldean pays tribute to the victims of the Las Vegas shooting with a performance of Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down."

Man Risked Life to Save Veteran and Wife in Las Vegas

Veteran talks to man who shielded him, dying wife, after Vegas shooting
KWTX 10 News
Julie Hays
October 5, 2017

WACO, Texas (KWTX) An Army veteran whose wife of 32 years was killed in the Las Vegas shooting rampage heads home Friday, but not before he talked to the stranger who shielded him and his dying wife as shots rang out.

“It was a selfless act of kindness,” Tony Burditus said Thursday.

His wife Denise was among the 58 who died when Stephen Paddock opened fire on the crowd at the Route 91 Harvest Festival Sunday night on the Las Vegas Strip.

Burditus will fly back to West Virginia Friday after the Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office released his wife’s body.

But before he left Las Vegas he had an emotional phone conversation with the stranger who threw himself on top of the couple as bullets flew.

Sam Porter, a CPA from California, was attending the three-day music festival outside the Mandalay Bay hotel with 15 friends, mostly Los Angeles firefighters, when bullets began to rain down around them.

As news organizations began to identify the shooting victims and showed photographs, Porter immediately recognized Denise.
read more here

Army of Heroes Showed Up in Las Vegas

Here are a few more stories about veterans still risking their lives for the sake of others!

Matthew Cobos, US Army

Cobos used his belt as a tourniquet to stop bleeding and even used his fingers to try to plug wounds. Cobos told family and friends that he could see the shots hitting the ground and ricocheting around him.

The young soldier is stationed with the Army in Hawaii where he is a cavalry scout. He was at the Route 91 Harvest Festival with his sister and her boyfriend during the shooting, and is for the time being back with his family in California.

Dr. James Sebesta, Ret. Army

is a surgeon who retired last year from service at Madigan Army Medical Center after an Army career that included four deployments to combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sunday, he encountered some of the worst carnage of his career during what he called a “prolonged date night” as he attended the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas. After surviving the onslaught of bullets unleashed in the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history, he sent his wife away with friends to a safe place while he stayed behind to help the wounded.

Aaron Stalker, Army veteran

While thousands of people scrambled from the parking lot where the Route 91 Harvest music festival was held as bullets rained down from overhead, Stalker ran straight into the crowd. He searched frantically for his girlfriend and her mother. Unable to find them in the chaos, "I just started helping anyone and everyone I could," Stalker said. 

He went to the first wounded person he could find and ripped up a piece of clothing to use as a tourniquet. He made splints, patched bullet holes, flipped over the plastic barriers that had been set up around the perimeter of the festival and turned them into stretchers. With two other men whose names he never learned, he carried the wounded to cars that would take them to the hospital.

Robert Ledbetter, Army veteran 

was a scout sniper for the U.S. Army Rangers during one tour of duty in Iraq. He was trained for war.

Those instincts kicked in on Sunday night at a different battlefield: about 40 yards from the stage where Jason Aldean was performing.

Ledbetter, 42, now a loan officer in Las Vegas, said at first it sounded like a firecracker or a firework. “We all looked around,” he said, as he and his wife and family members made sense of the popping sound.

Another burst of rounds went off, and someone about four rows ahead at the concert dropped to the ground. He saw Aldean escorted from the stage.

Las Vegas Survivors and Responders Struggle to Heal

Las Vegas survivors have been through hell. And it's not over.
USA TODAY
Anne Godlasky
Published Oct. 5, 2017

"Most people who've gone through something this horrifying will have symptoms that look like PTSD initially. It's only when they continue to linger that a diagnosis would be given," Gillihan said. Though rates of PTSD vary depending on the trauma, Gillihan said he would expect a "high percentage" to experience it in this case.

Now is about the time you've got Las Vegas fatigue. For the sake of your sanity, you turn your attention to other things, lighter things.

Now is about the time survivors of that attack are beginning to feel the shock subside and an onslaught of emotions — anguish, grief, guilt — take over.

"There's national recognition and solidarity around these big events, (but) that sense of attention and care and compassion seems to fade with the next news cycle," said Seth Gillihan, a psychologist and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder researcher. "The country pretty quickly returns to its baseline."

But survivors can't return to their baseline. Those who escaped the bullets can go home, and the injured will leave the hospital, but they can't go back to the lives they had.

"The world they knew before it happened is profoundly changed," Gillihan said. "They're probably going to have a different way of seeing the world, they may have a different way of seeing themselves, they may be critical of themselves for how they reacted during the event."

Las Vegas survivors have been thrust onto a new trajectory, one that will feel worse before it gets better. They are joining an unfortunate fellowship of those who've endured trauma — but one that can at least provide guidance down this too well-trodden path.
read more here

I hope you read the rest of the article because it is important to understand that the rest of the country moved on.

Everyone shot, obviously needs help. Not so obvious are the other concert goers. Even less obvious are the First Responders trying to save everyone else.

After Pulse, Police Officers said that the worst part was after the shooting stopped. They had to walk around in puddles of blood, but even that wasn't the worst for them. It was the constant ring of cell phones as they prayed the batteries would die. They knew on the other end of the call, was someone looking for someone who was not going home to them.

Truck Thief You Got To Love!

This Iraq veteran stole a truck and rescued dozens as gunfire rained down in Las Vegas

Sacramento Bee

Mandy Matney
October 3, 2017

An Iraq veteran is being hailed as a hero for stealing a festival truck and rescuing dozens of shooting victims as gunfire rained down in Las Vegas Sunday night.

Taylor Winston, 29, of San Diego, first thought the gunshots were fireworks while drinking and two-stepping at the Route 91 Harvest Festival, CBS News reports. But his combat skills kicked in when he heard the screams and the gunshots got closer during the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
read the rest here

How to Help Mandalay Bay Survivors. Be There!

This morning I posted advice on Google+ about how to help someone after they have survived something like Mandalay Bay shooting. It is really simple advice.

"If you know survivors of the shooting in Las Vegas, be there to listen to them. Do not turn it into a contest or try to "fix them" with any words, other than letting them know you care. Hold their hand and hold your tongue. Be there as they bring what happened as survivors back into the safety of what "normal" life is supposed to be."

Aside from living through many times when my life was on the line as a civilian, (remember, I am not the veteran in the family) this works. My family did it naturally, not knowing they were beginning my healing as a survivor. I also studied it, trained to work with First Responders, because of how much I do believe it works. 

Having seen the worst that can happen after a survivor is suffering without help, I weep more because I know that suffering did not need to happen.

It isn't just me saying this. It is repeated over and over again from the type of experts I learned from. You know, the ones with degrees up the you know what and a proven history of being right.


This is from one of those types of articles that just came out from an interview with Michele Hart.

A place to feel safe
"The first step is safety. Give someone a safe place to be and just be," she said. "Right now the talking isn't the important part."

Hart said the priority should be giving people a place where they can cry and express emotions and begin to process what has happened in a way that is safe and comfortable.  

The rush for 'psychological first aid' in the aftermath of the Las Vegas shooting
CNBC
Jessica Mathews
October 3, 2017

The morning after Stephen Paddock opened fire on 22,000 concertgoers at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival in Las Vegas, Mandalay Bay Resorts promptly opened a crisis center.
What was to be an evening of country music and celebration turned into a night of bloody terror, leaving those affected at risk of severe post-traumatic stress disorder.
Clinical social worker Michele Hart, who specializes in stressor-related disorders, says one of the best measures to treat PTSD is providing a place where those affected can cry and express emotions.

Denise Truscello | Getty Images
People embrace during a vigil on the Las Vegas strip for the victims of the Route 91 Harvest country music festival shootings on October 2, 2017, in Las Vegas.

The morning after 64-year-old Stephen Paddock opened fire on 22,000 concertgoers at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival in Las Vegas, Mandalay Bay Resorts promptly opened a crisis center, asking certified trauma counselors to volunteer and go to "Circus Circus – Ballroom D," according to a tweet. The makeshift crisis center was open to all victims, family members and anyone else directly impacted by the events, including Mandalay Bay guests and employees.

"Psychological first aid," or early mental health response, after the aftermath of horror and heartbreak is relatively new. In the first two weeks after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings on December 14, 2012, which left 29 people dead, more than 800 people visited the main crisis counseling center in Newtown, Connecticut. Within 24 hours after the June 12, 2016, nightclub shooting in Orlando, which claimed 49 lives, local counselors began circulating a spreadsheet, asking practitioners to sign up for shifts to offer therapy and support to victims, their families and community members. In a few days 650 practitioners signed up.

The Las Vegas shooting on Sunday night turned out to be the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, leaving 59 dead and 527 injured. For nearly 15 minutes shots rained down on the attendees, who had nowhere to escape. What was to be an evening of country music and celebration turned into a night of bloody terror, leaving those affected — whether directly or vicariously — at risk of severe post-traumatic stress disorder.
read more here


But remember, it isn't just about the survivors. It is the First Responders, the families, the friends and the people who just left, will also be changed. Will you be there to help them change again for the better?

The best that comes out of many because of the "one"

One man decided to kill as many strangers as possible. 

Many more decided to risk their lives to save as many strangers as possible.

Thousands fled the hail of gunfire in Las Vegas. These people stayed to try to save lives.

Blyleven, who is the son of Hall of Fame pitcher Bert Blyleven, said he has no formal medical training but that he felt obligated to do whatever he could to save lives.

“I just felt like I had to,” said Blyleven, who estimated that he may have helped about 30 or 40 people get away from the gunfire. “I would hope that if me, or my family, was in a situation like that, that someone would come in and get me.”

During the gunfire, Mike McGarry, a 53-year-old financial adviser from Philadelphia, said he tried to shield his children.

“It was crazy — I laid on top of the kids. They’re 20. I’m 53. I lived a good life,” McGarry told Reuters. He said he had shoe prints on the back of his shirt from people who ran over him to get away.

A parade of police officers, firefighters and paramedics rushed to the scene of the shooting, where good Samaritans were seen in photos kneeling down, tending to victims.

One man told Fox News that he hid behind a table and, when it was all over, helped load several bodies into a truck.

Las Vegas shooting: At least 58 dead, 515 hurt in Mandalay Bay shooting

Jose Baggett, 31, of Las Vegas, said he and a friend were in the lobby of the Luxor hotel-casino -- directly north of the festival -- when people began to run, almost like in a stampede. He said people were crying and as he and his friend started walking away minutes later, they encountered police checkpoints where officers were carrying shotguns and assault rifles. 

"There were armored personnel vehicles, SWAT vehicles, ambulances, and at least a half-mile of police cars," Baggett said.

That is the place where we find hope. There are still far more good people in this country than bad. Sure we may think that members of law enforcement and first responders are just doing their jobs, but they decided to do those jobs for the sake of everyone else.

Are there some who do not deserve to wear the badge? Yes, but they are few among many. So why is it that we forget that?

Are there some bad people in this country? Yes, but why do we forget that there are far more good ones?

People carry an injured person at the music festival grounds after gunfire was heard.

This man was talking about his friend who had been shot. He also talked about how many people went to help strangers. 



Southern California resident Chris Roybal, 28, died after he was shot in the chest, ABC Chicago station WLS reported. Roybal was a Navy war veteran who served in Afghanistan.



Time and time again we have witnessed the worst that can be done, but we have also witnessed the best that comes out of many because of the one.