By Frank Denzler
The Rushville Republican
RUSH COUNTY, Ind. — In the most urgent moments, when time is of the essence, help is a 911 call away. In times of need, first responders are dispatched and tasked to deftly handle tragic and traumatic situations.
Depending on the nature of the call or extent of injuries sustained, trained and lay personnel rely on their skills and training to make a bad and or tragic situation better.
Through the years, ongoing training has prepared first responders for many of the life-saving tasks they perform. As a result of medical advances, there are numerous medical and physical therapy resources to help individuals with visible injuries – both initially and through their recovery process.
What about hidden injuries, such as stress issues and the emotional side effects endured by first responders and others involved in treating and dealing with an emergency? Many stress and emotional related issues may not immediately be realized and, in some cases, are not noticed for days, weeks or even months following the initial emergent event.
In 2008, the Moscow tornado that led to the eventual death of a Rush County resident, the Air Evac ambulance crash in nearby Decatur County resulting in the death of its flight crew, two suicide deaths (one of a former reserve deputy and another a volunteer firefighter), the untimely and accidental death of a 2007 RCHS graduate and then college student while assisting with a FFA event and accidental death of a youngster at the steam engine show grounds all had profound effects on first responders. Emergency personnel and those touched by the emergencies had to deal with the situation - physically, mentally and emotionally.
Although there were and are numerous support groups and medical measures in place to help those individuals with physical injuries, it was realized there were no such support groups to tackle the unseen issues first responders encountered.
“There were several major medical events which occurred in 2008 that hit our medical, EMS and ER staff very hard here at Rush Memorial Hospital. There were other tragic events that took place later that year, further taxing our personnel. We brought in an outside agency to help us without success and that is when the administration at that time decided we had to do something,” VP of Operations at RMH Gretchen Smith said.
As a result, a group of individuals and the management staff at Rush Memorial Hospital made a proactive decision making it mandatory for staff to attend debriefings following tragic events. Training was offered as a means to better understand and deal with the stress and emotional effects emergent events can and do have on first responders and emergency staff.
Since its inception nearly nine years ago, the number of team members has grown from three at the first training offered in 2008 to nearly 35 members currently.
“It has been my finding that there is an ebb and flow to events of this nature. They (tragic events) never really go away and the training is always in your back pocket to pull out when it is needed,” Todd Fields said.
The East Central Indiana CISM Team was formed as a means to reduce tensions associated with tragic events and facilitate the recovery process of first responders and others. The team is comprised of volunteers from different walks of life: nurses, law enforcement (both active and retired), firefighters, hospital emergency room personnel, EMTs, and clergy to name a few. The east –central Indiana team serves Rush, Henry, Fayette, Union, Delaware and Wayne counties and has been dispatched nearly 40 times to offer assistance. Between 2015 and 2016, the team responded to 13- interventions, three - defusing’s and conducted 16 debriefings following tragic events.
Statistics have indicated that roughly 10 to 15 percent of law enforcement personnel and 10 to 30 percent of fire and EMS personnel will at one time or another suffers from PTSD as a result of the events they respond.
“We have seen a need and an increase in the need for debriefings for individuals in the law enforcement, fire and EMS fields recent years,” Fred Bunzendahl ISP retired and CISM team member said.
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