The other victims: First responders to horrific events often suffer in solitude Tampa Bay Times By Heidi de Marco, Kaiser Health News Published: July 9, 2018
The "first responders" who provide emergency aid have been hit hard not just by recent large-scale disasters but by the accumulation of stress and trauma over many years, research shows. Many studies have found elevated rates of post-traumatic stress disorder among nurses, firefighters and paramedics. A 2016 report by the International Association of Fire Fighters found that firefighters and paramedics are exhibiting levels of PTSD similar to that of combat veterans.
Medical personnel tend to a victim after the Feb. 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. The "first responders" who provide emergency aid have been hit hard not just by recent large-scale disasters but by the accumulation of stress and trauma over many years, research shows. [Sun Sentinel]
The day a gunman fired into a crowd of 22,000 people at the country music festival in Las Vegas, hospital nursing supervisor Antoinette Mullan was focused on one thing: saving lives.
She recalls dead bodies on gurneys across the triage floor, a trauma bay full of victims. But "in that moment, we’re not aware of anything else but taking care of what’s in front of us," Mullan said.
Proud as she was of the work her team did, she calls it "the most horrific evening of my life" — the culmination of years of searing experiences she has tried to work through, mostly on her own.
"I can tell you that after 30 years, I still have emotional breakdowns and I never know when it’s going to hit me," said Mullan.
Calamities seem to be multiplying in recent years, including mass shootings, fires, hurricanes and mudslides. Just last month, a gunman burst into the newsroom of the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Md., killing five journalists and injuring two others.
Many of the men and women who respond to these tragedies have become heroes and victims at once. Some firefighters, emergency medical providers, law enforcement officers and others say the scale, sadness and sometimes sheer gruesomeness of their experiences haunt them, leading to tearfulness and depression, job burnout, substance abuse, relationship problems, even suicide.
Many, like Mullan, are stoic, forgoing counseling even when it is offered.
"I don’t have this sense that I need to go and speak to someone," said Mullan. "Maybe I do, and I just don’t know it." read more here
Service dog donated to veteran in honor of man who lost his life to suicide NBC 9 News Katie Eastman July 9, 2018
KUSA — Talking to dogs is easy, but talking to people is tough, especially when those people are reporters with cameras.
But Mac Pickett, a 50-year-old from Colorado Springs, has the courage to talk about his struggles now that he has a 13-week old German Shepherd by his side.
Beres is donating the puppy, Apollo, to Pickett to help with his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. Pickett is talking in hopes that his story will help someone else.
"I just put my fears to the side," he said. "If I’m just able to help one person."
After 21 years in the army, Sgt. 1st Class Pickett was diagnosed with a mental illness that kept him inside, scared to talk to people.
He understands the silence that Aaron Alexander suffered.
"July 10, 2016, my son Aaron Alexander at 19 years old died by suicide," said Wendy Galloway.
When Galloway's son joined the National Guard, he didn't seek help for depression because he worried the military would kick him out.
Two years after his death, the stigma remains. read more here
Preventing suicides begins in your own house! Combat PTSD Wounded Times Kathie Costos July 9, 2018
In case you forgot what being a Captain is, Definition of captain
1 a (1) : a military leader : the commander of a unit or a body of troops (2) : a subordinate officer commanding under a sovereign or general (3) : a commissioned officer in the army, air force, or marine corps ranking above a first lieutenant and below a major
b (1) : a naval officer who is master or commander of a ship (2) : a commissioned officer in the navy ranking above a commander and below a commodore and in the coast guard ranking above a commander and below a rear admiral c : a senior pilot who commands the crew of an airplane d : an officer in a police department or fire department in charge of a unit (such as a precinct or company) and usually ranking above a lieutenant and below a chief
Considering that law enforcement suicides have gone up, while deaths in the line of duty have not gone up the same way, time for Captains to step up. It isn't as if no one has been talking about this. This report from AP came out in 2008. Yes! 2008, ten years ago!
Considering firefighters are committing suicide in higher numbers, according to a report from CBS, emergency responders are ten times more likely to commit suicide and that came from Emergency Medical Services. Battalion Chief Erik Sutton and Battalion Chief David Dangerfield, posted about firefighters and PTSD, before he committed suicide, among many more, are still finding it hard to ask for help. How many will it take before Captains get some courage to actually do something that will get rid of the stigma? 81% of the firefighters feared they would be seen as weak according to an NBC survey. Is it that they are under some kind of delusion that the people under them are no longer the kind of people who would die to save someone else? Do they know their own people? If the stigma of PTSD among those who would die for the sake of someone else is still stronger than the events they face on a daily basis, then the Captains and other leaders need to start figuring out how they need to change the message. The only way to do that is to actually find out what PTSD is and the difference between what civilians get from one event AND THE TYPE OF PTSD RESPONDERS GET FROM FACING DEATH RESPONDING TO THE OTHERS THEY WOULD DIE FOR! This isn't rocket science but it is common sense. When we have so many still taking their own lives after all these years, they ran out of excuses!
Navy Corpsman Found Dead in Barracks ID'd as Emmett Blake Rowan NBC 7 News San Diego By Alexander Nguyen July 6, 2018
The sailor that was found dead in his barracks Monday was identified Friday as Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Emmett Blake Rowan, Navy officials said.
Rowan was found around 9 a.m. at Naval Medical Center San Diego, where he was stationed.
Rowan, a native of Brookville, Pennsylvania, enlisted in the Navy on June 25, 2013, and reported to basic training at Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, Illinois from June 25, 2013, to Aug. 24, 2013. read more here
On a personal note, Donna and Denny belong to the same Chapter of the DAV as we do, Chapter 16 Orlando. They are part of the generation who ended up being told we are worth less than the newer generations. The other problem is, it also means that Gulf War, Korean War and remaining WWII generations are also worth less. Donna and Denny, along with the DAV, fight for all generations of disabled veterans and that is the way it should be. If you want to know where almost everything known on PTSD came from, that was also the DAV when they commissioned the research on The Forgotten Warrior Project! Ironic that we are still forgotten! Why Are Vietnam Vets, Families Still Waiting for VA Caregiver Benefits? Military.com By Richard Sisk 8 Jul 2018
"Just look at the Vietnam veterans, the way they were treated. There's a lot of guilt there," said Meyer, who lost his right leg above the knee and the thumb, index finger and middle finger of his right hand to an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan.
Disabled Vietnam War veteran Bill Czyzewski joins about 150 other disabled veterans in a 2016 cycling event at Gettysburg, Pa. Although Congress passed a bill to provide benefits for caregivers of such veterans, about $55 billion in funding must be found. (DoD photo/EJ Hersom).
"I just think it's very unfair, the inequity of it all. You give up so much," Donna Joyner said of the wall put up by Congress at the Department of Veterans Affairs that has separated one generation of family caregivers to disabled veterans from another.
Joyner, the wife and caregiver to her husband, triple amputee Vietnam veteran Dennis Joyner, has been among the thousands who are ineligible for training and modest stipends under the VA Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers program that was limited to post-9/11 veterans by a law passed in 2010.
On June 6, President Donald Trump signed the VA Maintaining Systems and Strengthening Integrated Outside Networks Act, or VA Mission Act, which was primarily aimed at expanding private health care options through the VA.
As part of the Mission Act, the caregivers program was expanded to eliminate the 9/11 limitation in stages and eventually extend the benefit to veterans of all eras.
The first expansion would go to caregivers of veterans who suffered severe, service-connected wounds or injuries before May 1975, when the Vietnam War ended for the U.S. read more here
