Helping victims cope with disasters

Counselors will be able to help victims deal with the trauma of disasters.
& lt;a href=mailto:bjackson@vindy.com & gt;By BOB JACKSON & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Sometimes the most devastating damage from storms and disasters is damage that can't be seen or measured in dollars and cents.
Area mental health officials say that in many cases, emotional trauma suffered by disaster victims can be more severe than property damage.
Mahoning Valley emergency management officials are working with area mental health counselors to develop a plan for helping people cope with disasters, whether natural or man-made. This summer's flooding showed them the need for such a regional plan.
"What can you do with someone who's at the end of his rope because his home has been flooded for the third time in a month?" said Walter Duzzny, Mahoning County Emergency Management Agency director. "He is under a terrible amount of stress. He needs some answers and he needs some help."
Duzzny said disaster victims often are stunned and dazed, and don't know where to turn for help.
Developing plan
Emergency management and mental health officials from Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties met last week in Youngstown to start developing a plan to make coordinated counseling and other mental health services available for victims who need it.
The intent, Duzzny said, is to provide professional counselors in the three-county area with training in the types of disasters likely to strike here and ways to help people get through them.
"If there is a disaster, we will be able to go in and provide emotional support," said Duane J. Piccirilli of Help Hotline in Youngstown.
When a disaster strikes, counselors can be mobilized to start dealing with victims whether it's in their homes, at an emergency shelter or in another place designated by emergency officials, said Nick Ceglia of Trumbull County Hotlines.
Ceglia said hundreds of Trumbull County homes were damaged by flooding this summer, especially in Leavittsburg and Girard. A group of licensed mental health professionals got together and began meeting with flood victims at temporary shelters.
Emotions
He said disaster victims are cast into a myriad of emotional states in the hours, days and weeks after their loss.
"First it's shock and awe, then bewilderment and confusion over the magnitude of their loss," he said. "Our role is just to instill some hope that they're going to get through this."
Piccirilli said anger also comes into play when disaster victims become frustrated during the emergency relief process.
"A guy walks in to a relief center and he thinks someone is going to hand him money or a check, and instead they hand him a handful of forms to fill out," Piccirilli said. "People can get pretty upset in a situation like that."
When people are hit with the same kind of damage two, three or four times without getting a chance to recover from the previous jolt, their grief and emotional upset is compounded, Ceglia said.
Piccirilli said Help Hotline received more than 1,000 calls a week this summer from people who needed help dealing with the stress of repeated flooding.
Jean McQuilkin of the Columbiana County mental health board said officials in the three counties will be available to support one another if a county is hit hard and needs backup. Counselors will be sent in to help with an overload of victims as well as to debrief the local counselors.
"Sometimes people forget that the caregivers are really stressed out," Piccirilli said.
Duzzny said it's critical to have only trained mental health professionals working with victims in disaster situations.