Times-Advocate, 1999-03-24, Page 19Crosn'sl'ith" a
Exeter Times -Advocate
Wednesday, March 24 , 1999
Page 19
Helping the experts deal with tragedy
By Craig Bradford
TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF
EXETER — We have come to rely on
emergency service workers to help us
through tragedy. But who helps them
deal with the aftermath?
First line emergency personnel like
police officers, ambulance attendants,
firefighters and emergency room nurses
deal with life or death situations almost
every day.
Most of us cannot imagine a career full
of car crashes, fires, shootings, murders,
suicides, dismemberments — the grisly
realities of the end of human life.
The Times -Advocate coverage area has
witnessed more than its fair share of
tragedies over recent months: the
November death of a little girl and the
injuries to her brother after they were hit
by a car while they were bicycling home
one kilometre south of Exeter; the
January murder/suicide of an estranged
husband and wife in Lucan; the February
death of a Elimville man due to burns
sustained during a house fire in January;
the deaths of two young men after a sin-
gle car crash six kilometres southeast of
Exeter on Feb. 20.
The people who tried to save those lives.
include those who live in the same com-
munities as the families grieving the loss
of a loved one. What many people fail to
realize is those emergency response per-
sonnel are people just like them — people
yvho have loved ones, go to the grocery
tore, take their youngster to hockey
practice and sometimes experience shock
and anxiety after tragedies.
Up till recently, the only emotional safe-
ty net emergency staff had were co-work-
ers, family and friends. The buddy system
continues to be the most used sounding
board after a tragedy.
"We talk," South Huron Hospital nurs-
ing director Maureen Cole said. "That's
the biggest thing. You cry, you hug."
Volunteer firefighters go through the
same process.
"You just talk about it with the guys,"
Exeter Fire Chief John Morgan said.
Hoffman's Ambulance Service para-
medic Rob Verberne said ambulance staff
talk to their paramedic partners when a
situation has rattled them.
"That's the only kind of venting we
know," he said.
London OPP Const. Myra Rusk said the
OPP has peer counsellors and trauma
support providers to help officers with
any professional or personal concerns as
well as an employee assistance program
and hotline. Using force to subdue Sus-
pects can also stress out officers and Rusk
said the use of force reports officers must
complete after pulling their firearms or
using hand-to-hand techniques include a
question asking if the officer needs coun-
selling due to the incident.
All emergency personnel have some-
where to turn if they have difficulty deal-
ing with a tragedy. The London Regional
Critical Incident Stress Management team
(CISM) based out of Children's Hospital of
Western Ontario was set up three years
ago to help emergency services staff deal
with stress due to tragedies.
London social worker Tom Massel is on
the executive of the London CISM team
and has conducted over 30 debriefings.
Massel said 35 volunteers are on the
London CISM team including mental
health workers (social workers, psycholo-
gists, psychiatrists, chaplains) and peer
support workers (emergency services
staff).
The London CISM team were called in
to help emergency services staff deal with
the fallout of the recent crash that killed
Lawrence Cole and Chris Wilhelm and
the January car -bicycle accident that
claimed the life of an Amy Payne, 10, and
injured her brother Scott, 12.
Massel said a two person team made up
of a mental health worker and a peer
support worker stage, upon request, a
volunteer debriefing a couple of days to a
week after a tragedy. Those attending the
debriefing talk about what they experi-
enced and what they might do differently
if faced with a similar situation.
Defusings are also used by CISM teams.
A defusing is a kind of 'emotional first
aid' and essentially are discussions
between a team and people who have
experienced a tragedy within eight hours
of the experience.
Each member of the London CISM team
goes through a two-day workshop and
some also receive advanced training to
oversee a debriefing.
Massel has a masters degree in social
work, has been in the field 28 years and
has done CISM work since '91. He said
the sometimes over two hour long
debriefings are "stressful" but essential.
"It's not group therapy or counselling,"
Massel stressed. "It's education."
Those emergency services workers who
don't deal with the stress tragedies cause
(called critical incident stress, see sidebar)
can later experience physical, emotional
and behavior problems called post trau-
matic stress disorders. Some of the com-
mon symptoms include apathy towards
work or inability to perform at work, fail-
ure to carry out family and other personal
responsibilities, lack of sleep, nightmares
and increase in alcohol/drug use.
The tragedies that most affect emer-
gency workers are those involving chil-
dren and co-workers, Massel said.
"There's a whole gamut of things peo-
ple experience and sometimes they don't
talk about it," Massel said.
Talking about what they've seen and
how they feel confidentially among their
peers eases the stress emergency work-
ers have.
"It normalizes their symptoms," Massel
said. "The group experience is impor-
tant."
Those who show marked affects during
the debriefing are later privately offered
follow-up counselling by the mental
health worker.
Although the debriefing can do a lot of
good, Massel said the voluntary nature of
the session puts the onus on employers to
make counselling available to their staff.
"The voluntary component is good but
you may miss some people," he said.
Emergency services staff the T -A con-
tacted agreed that talking to peers about
how you feel after a tragedy is the best
medicine.
"I have to talk and that's what they
(peer counsellors and trauma support
providers) encourage you to do," Rusk
said. "(A tragedy) stays with you for a
long time if not forever."
Rusk,.a 13 year police veteran including
the first five and half years in Toronto,
described her most stressful incident. A
home delivered' babystopped breathing
while she was on duty in Toronto. She
arrived on the scene while firefighters
were performing CPR before the ambu-
lance arrived. Rusk rushed the baby to
Toronto's Children's Hospital while an
ambulance attendant was giving the child
CPR in the back of the cruiser. She could-
n't remember how to get to the specific
hospital due to traffic and the stress of the
situation and wound up taking the baby
Dashwood's Hoffman's Ambulance Service paramedics Jeff Hoffman,LEFT, Marion
Taylor and Bob Hoffman deal with emergency situations including potential
tragedies every day. Paramedics, like any emergency services personnel, talk to co-
workers about disturbing circumstances to help manage stress.
to St. Michael's Hospital wherethe child
later died.
Rusk was distraught after the incident
and was later comforted by two police
officers.
"Our fellow officers provide a lot of sup-
port," she said.
Another stressful incident Rusk men-
tioned was when her ex-husband, anoth-
er police officer, was shot while on duty.
"You can't just force it down," Rusk
said. "It comes out somehow."
Cole, an emergency nurse for 15 years,
said dealing with tragedies at a small
hospital is different than an emergency
ward in a bigger centre because the small
hospital emergency nurse will likely know,
the victims and their families. She said
the entire community suffers when a
tragedy hits a small town.
During the emergency, Cole said hospi-
tal staff ride the adrenalin of the situation
and perform their duties. The hard part is
"the coming down" after the emergency
has passed.
"It's not easy but you have confidence
you know what you did was right," she
said.
Cole is a great believer in fate when it
comes to -people who have lost their lives
in a tragedy, including the tragic death of
her 19 -year-old son Lawrence last
month.
"It's what saves you," she said.
"Knowing you did everything you could."
Morgan admits the OPP and ambulance
staff face more "dramatic" incidents
because they are usually the first at acci-
dent and disaster scenes while the volun-
teer
fire department is used as back up.
But the Exeter Fire Department has had
to extricate people from horrific car
wrecks. Though those experiences
haven't caused any firefighters to quit,
Morgan said some firefighters bear the
psychological scars.
"I know of some firefighters who will
not go out to a vehicle accident after see-
ing one," he said.
Morgan's most unsettling memory is of
a car crash 10 years ago that claimed the
lives of a few teens. A lack of driving
experience was the likely cause of the
accident. Morgan's daughter was 16 at
the time and learning to drive so the
deaths really struck home for Morgan.
Hoffman's Ambulance Service para-
medic Jeff Hoffman has been on the job
for 10 years. He said despite his experi-
ence and the support of co-workers and
the CISM team, tragedies never become
just part of the job.
"I don't know if you get used to it,"the
said.
Rusk accepts that dealing with tragedies
is part of what she does.
"You have a job to do," she said. "You
take care of business and you deal with it
later. We're all human. We all go home."
A CISM team has been in operation in
Huron County for about a year. Huron
CISM executive member Dianne Fox said
the Huron team has between 30-35
members from several different services
and industries.
Fox said the Huron team received help
setting up from the London and Owen
Sound CISM teams and sometimes has to
ask for leadership support from London
although almost all Huron members have
advanced training.
The Huron CISM team, based out of
Goderich's Alexandria Marine and
General Hospital, conducted six to eight
debriefings last year including some in
the Exeter area. Fox called that number
high for a rural area.
Not just emergency services personnel
can use Huron CISM team's help. Co-
workers.of those killed in factories or any
other job site or victims of any unexpect-
ed traumatic event can take advantage of
the service.
A Huron CISM team member can be
reached by calling beeper (519) 581-
5715. A London CISM team member can
be reached by calling (519) 646-7418.
CISM team services are open to anyone
who have experienced a tragedy includ-
ing family and friends of victims. All dis-
cussions during debriefings are confiden-
tial.
4.
•