First Responder suicide shows when press leaves, the event does not

Death by suicide of paramedic who rushed to Quebec City mosque attack shines light on trauma risks for first-responders
The Star
By ALLAN WOODS Quebec Bureau
June 1, 2018

“They try to push through it. They go back to work and they push through it and they push through it and they push through it, until they can’t push through it anymore. That can be months or years down the line.” Dr. Jonathan Douglas

MONTREAL—In Lucie Roy’s retelling, the chain of events that led to her daughter’s suicide began with the burst of gunshots that killed six men and injured five others in a Quebec City mosque in January 2017.

Andréanne Leblanc, 31, was a paramedic who responded to the deadly Quebec City mosque shooting in January 2017. Her mother said the experience contributed to her suicide in March 2018. (FACEBOOK)

Andréanne Leblanc was on shift that Sunday night. She was one of the first paramedics to arrive at the bloody scene that greatly traumatized Canadians.

She and her work partner transported one of the victims to hospital. In the fear and confusion of that frigid winter night, as police hunted the armed and fleeing killer, they were told to prepare in case there were other victims.

Leblanc, 31, didn’t talk to her family about what she had experienced.

That seems to have been part of her nature.

Her grieving mother wants to draw attention to the mental health problems faced by her daughter and other emergency workers who work in difficult or potentially distressing conditions.
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Vietnam veteran killed protecting kids from deadly driver

Sanford woman charged after deadly hit-and-run at baseball game
by WGME
June 3rd 2018

Sharrow's car hit a closed gate and she drove back toward the main gate, where she struck Douglas Parkhurst, 68, of West Newfield before speeding away from the scene.

SANFORD (WGME) -- A Sanford woman faces a manslaughter charge after police say she struck and killed a West Newfield man after driving on to the field of a baseball game Friday night.

Carol Sharrow, 51, was arrested after police said she drove a car on to the field at Goodall Park shortly after 7 p.m. Friday.
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Brooklyn veterans fighting to keep VA clinic open?

What kind of a message does this send? Increase funds for private care but close down VA Clinics that treat disabled veterans? 

Veterans and supporters mobilize in opposition to closure of ENT clinic at Brooklyn VA Hospital
Brooklyn Reporter
By Jaime DeJesus
June 1, 2018

Fearing that the Brooklyn VA Hospital could ultimately be in jeopardy, supporters of the facility — which treats veterans from across the borough as well as Staten Island — are staking their position in support of the hospital, which recently decided to shutter its ENT clinic.

ebrooklyn media/Photos by Jaime DeJesus 

Danny Friedman addressing the group.

On Friday, June 1, veterans, Congressmember Dan Donovan and the New York City Veterans Alliance joined together at a conference at the Knights of Columbus, 1305 86th Street, to protest the closure and express their concern that the hospital so many former members of the military rely upon will eventually downsize to an outpatient only clinic or transform into condos.

“It’s already hard for some of our local veterans to get to the Brooklyn facility and now many will have to travel to the Manhattan facility or one in the Bronx,” said Donovan. “This could be particularly devastating to those who are elderly or disabled, who may forgo visits instead of facing long and difficult commutes to get to their appointments. The decision needs to be reversed.”

“We’ve been seeing a gradual decline in services,” said Danny Friedman, president of Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 72. One of the worries is that the facility will be the victim of a gradual diminution of services, effectively death by a thousand cuts. In 2015, the U.S. Veterans Administration decided to close a 25-bed inpatient medical surgery unit at the hospital, another move that was vocally protested by veterans and their supporters.
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PTSD From Sexual Assaults

Washington Post finally picked up on this one...today! (6/5)


More Vets Who Are Coping With PTSD From Sexual Assaults Get Honorable Discharges
NPR
Quil Lawrence
June 1, 2018

"I still have nightmares about it," he told NPR in 2016. "I am 45 years old, and I still have that vision in my head."

Heath Phillips says the trauma of being sexually assaulted drove him to alcoholism and to go AWOL. Three decades later, the military has agreed to upgrade his discharge to honorable. Courtesy of Heath Phillips

Sexual assault is still a major issue for the military. Reports rose by 10 percent last year, though there is some discussion about whether that is an increase in the number of assaults or an increased willingness of troops to come forward and report them. That would be an improvement because victims of rape in the military often face retaliation, sometimes even a less than honorable discharge from the military.

Among those veterans there is another number that is going up: the people getting their records corrected to show they served honorably.

Sexual assault and harassment affects female troops at a higher rate. But because the military is still mostly male, it's men who make up a much larger number of victims among the thousands of sexual assaults each year. Women report the crime more than twice as much as men.

This makes Heath Phillips, who speaks publicly about his experience, rare.

Phillips was sexually assaulted repeatedly by a group of sailors right after he joined the Navy.
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Truck driver Iraq veteran saved State Trooper

Iraq War vet, now a trucker, puts suspect in chokehold to save trooper from being shot
USA Today
Joel Shannon
June 2, 2018

“I did two tours in Iraq, and I never had to put a choke hold on anyone. That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever done."

The Wyoming Highway Patrol is praising an Iraq War veteran for his role in apprehending a suspect and helping a trooper who was in danger of being shot.

Trucker Darren Phillips of Taylorsville, Utah, pulled over after seeing an altercation between a trooper and a suspect Thursday near Green River, Wyoming, about 140 miles northeast of Salt Lake City.

“I put my brakes on, and I jump out. And by this time, the trooper is on his back and the guy is on top of him," Phillips told KSL-TV, Salt Lake City. "The trooper saw me running over and as soon as I got up to him, he says, ‘He’s going for my gun.' "

Phillips put the suspect in a chokehold. A Facebook post from the TV station quotes Phillips: It was the "craziest thing" he's ever done despite serving two tours in Iraq.

Phillips said his training in the Marines and Army National Guard helped him subdue the man and pull him off the trooper.
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