Local firefighter opens up about dark side of the job
By: MADELYN JANSSEN
Posted: Sep 27, 2018
Robinson wants other first responders to know it's not only ok, but good to talk about how the calls affect them. And he wants to be an example of how you can come out the other side, and find a path back to happiness. Society, friends and family can all play a part in breaking the stigma around asking for help. "Ask the tough questions if you think someone is struggling. You will never regret asking, you will regret not asking."
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - "Suck it up buttercup." That's the stigma Kern County Fire Department Captain Derek Robinson is fighting to change. He's been with the department for more than 17 years. It was only last year that he himself dropped the act, and decided it was time to ask for help. In August he detailed that fight to overcome his emotional injuries, in a Facebook post. He's sharing that to help reach anyone else struggling with the same demons.
A study last year said first responders are more likely to die from suicide than in the line of duty. PTSD and depression rates among first responders are as much as five times higher than among civilians. Robinson didn't realize for years that he was among those suffering. But the Friday after Thanksgiving 2017 he was called to a scene that changed that. A family was ripped apart by a drunk driver. A mother and child killed in a crash along Highway 99. "You can't respond and not feel something, especially when you see the impact on the family. Here's a family on Thanksgiving day traveling and their lives were not just interrupted, but completely destroyed and they lost a mother and a child, you can't absorb that. You just can't." Robinson suffered from sleepless nights. He turned to self-medication at times. He lost relationships and lost his passion for the job.
Years of repeated exposure to trauma had taken their toll. It was a month after that Thanksgiving crash that Robinson decided to seek help. That changed everything. "Where I am now is drastically different from where I am today by getting help. This is more of an injury and same as a physical injury it can be dealt with."
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Marine veteran shares story of battling PTSD and how to get help
News 4 San Antonio
by Ariana Lubelli
September 28th 2018
"The important thing is to know the services that are out and seek those services before you get to that crisis point," said Gordon.
There is a great need for mental health services for veterans. It's a demand seen across the country and just as prevalent in San Antonio.
Andrew Reidel is a Marine veteran and outreach coordinator for PTSD Foundation of America. He knows all too well about the demons that PTSD brings on.
"Just imagine coming home and being just dead, just a moving body, just existing not really living. That's how we come home," said Reidel.
He served eight years in the military with tours to Iraq and Afghanistan and operations in other overseas locations.
"For me, it was the nightmares and the night sweats, real quick to get angry. Probably the worst part of it was not being able to connect with the average person when I got home," said Reidel.
Since 2011, Reidel has attempted suicide at least three times. Sadly, his story is familiar to many veterans.
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Atlanta VA quality drops to one of the worst in the nation
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By Willoughby Mariano
Sept 28, 2018
Troubles at the Atlanta VA persist despite years of reform attempts because department heads are slow to change, said Bob Teets, a U.S. Marine veteran who serves on the Atlanta VA director’s advisory council. These physicians are more concerned with preserving their reputations than alerting top administrators to problems, he said.
The Atlanta VA Medical Center’s quality rating fell to one out of five stars, ranking it among the bottom of VA facilities nationally, according to new data. Last year, it earned three stars. Photo: Phil Skinner
Atlanta’s VA Medical Center now ranks as one of the worst in the nation after the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs latest national assessment of hospital quality, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News have learned.
The Decatur-area hospital’s overall quality rating fell from three stars to one — the lowest in the VA’s five-star ranking system. This means that Atlanta’s VA is among the lowest-scoring 10 percent of the department’s 100-plus medical centers nationwide.
A June Inspector General audit found that the hospital has the highest staffing shortages of any VA hospital in the country. The hospital was short 89 positions, including neurologist, pathologist, psychologist and nurses slots.
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Dads back from war, struggling with PTSD, discover how to be good fathers in new Veterans Affairs program
Orange County Register
By DAVID WHITING
PUBLISHED: September 27, 2018
Kevin Lynch looks at seven of his fellow veterans and wastes no time revealing how tough it is for men who have been splattered with the blood of war to be good fathers.
Tristan Foust, with his 3-month-old son, Tristan, and Mason Donnell, attend a group meeting for combat veterans who want to become better dads, at the North Orange County Vet Center in Garden Grove on Saturday, September 22, 2018. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
“Let’s admit it, except for one of us, we’re all in a 12-step program,” Lynch exclaims, leaning back in his chair and throwing his hands up in the air. “Most of us here are rebuilding our lives.”
It is a recent Saturday and Lynch, along with his brothers in arms, is 10 weeks into a new model program called “Dads Matter.” If successful, the Veterans Administration could roll it out across the nation.
Sure, Lynch, a former Navy search and rescue corpsman, just blew up the dumbest tenet of many 12-step programs and that is to dump stigma on top of stigma by so-called experts who insist on anonymity. But on this day, not only have the men agreed to share personal battles — they have mustered the courage to go public.
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Tulsa Police Unveil Patrol Car Dedicated To Veterans
News on 6
September 27th 2018
TULSA, Oklahoma - A newly wrapped patrol car is making its debut at the Tulsa State Fair. It’s dedicated to a former officer who died while serving as a Marine in Iraq.
Jared Shoemaker was killed in action in Iraq in 2006 after his reserve unit was deployed.
Tulsa Police unveiled the car Thursday. It’s decorated in Marine Corp camouflage with red, white and blue. The department said it’s dedicated to Shoemaker and other veterans who serve on the police department.
"To represent the Marines who work for our department, the Marines who lost their lives, the Marines still fighting for our country," Sergeant Richard Meulenberg said.
After the fair, the car will hit the streets as part of normal patrols.
It will also be used in the upcoming Veteran's Day parade.
go here to see the rest of this patrol car
