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Counselors stand ready to assist the grieving
See also: Fire probe targets grill
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Teddy bears and other mementos are placed in memoriam around a shrub at 911 Landsdowne Ave. NW, Warren, where six people — two adults and four children — were killed in a Thursday morning house fire.
FOR THE FAMILY
Huntington National Bank has set up an account for public donations for the family of six killed in a fire Thursday on Landsdowne Avenue in Warren. Donations will be accepted under the name of Johnson-Dorsey in all Huntington Bank branches in Mahoning and Trumbull counties.
for SUPPORT
Valley Counseling Services provides counseling for children at 318 Mahoning Ave. NW, Warren. Phone: 330-395-9563.
24-hour “supportive listening” and referrals are available through Trumbull 211, run by Community Solutions, 320 High Street NE, Warren. Phone: 330-393-1565. Or, on most land-line phones, just call 211.
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Derek Dorsey Jr.
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Derek Dorsey
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Miracle Hugley
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Ariell Dorsey
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Audrey Johnson
Six Dead in Warren Fire
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WARREN — A family of four plus two children spending the night died in an early-morning house fire on Landsdowne Avenue Northwest today. Firefighters don’t know yet what caused the fire or where it started but believe it had been burning quite a while before a neighbor became aware of it and called 911. Firefighters performed CPR on several of the victims, but it’s possible all six were dead when they were removed from the Cape Cod-style house. The four children were found in the attic, where the fire caused the majority of its damage, while the two adults were found on the first floor.
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Because six people, four of them children, died in the early Thursday house fire on Landsdowne Avenue Northwest, counselors at area mental health agencies mobilized quickly to provide assistance.
And because the emotional fallout could last for months, they are prepared to assist the grieving long after funeral services have ended.
Ed Bolino, a member of the Warren Board of Education and a clinical counselor in the children’s office of Valley Counseling on Mahoning Avenue, became involved early Thursday in setting up counseling help.
Francine Packard, who also is a counselor at Valley, said Bolino made arrangements by about 8 a.m. Thursday to have Warren’s Jefferson K-8 school building opened to the public and staffed with counselors from the agency and school district available to assist those affected by the tragedy. The McGuffey K-8 building also was made available later Thursday.
Bolino also went to Valley Care Trumbull Memorial Hospital to assist the 50 or so family members and friends who went there early Thursday. The victims were all taken to TMH — some to the emergency room, some to the morgue.
Bolino and Packard also returned to the hospital Friday morning to “debrief” emergency-room workers affected by the deaths and also helped Loree Richardson, Warren’s interim superintendent, prepare a statement regarding the children.
Three of the children attended Warren’s Jefferson K-8 and McGuffey K-8 buildings, and their grandmother, Linda Dorsey of Warren, is a custodian in the school district’s administrative offices on High Street.
“Valley makes itself available to family members and friends in order to process the events that have occurred,” Packard said. Adults should watch for signs that a child is experiencing difficulty coping with the loss, she said.
“For a lot of them, with a traumatic event, symptoms don’t set in until days or weeks later, so it is important for family members to be aware of changes in eating or sleeping habits, any isolation or nightmares,” she said.
“Always be available to talk,” Packard said, adding, “If you see anything out of the ordinary, give us a call.”
Only a few families with children came to the schools on Thursday and early Friday to talk to counselors, but many of the school staff who knew the children came to talk, Packard said.
Emergency-room personnel are used to tragedy but still need help when it involves children, Packard said. “That affects you in a whole different way.”
The Dorsey and Johnson families have received a great deal of family support so far, but grieving continues for months to come.
“In the months following, don’t forget to reach out then. That’s when things start to set in — after the memorials, after the funerals,” Packard said.
April Caraway, director of the Trumbull County Mental Health and Recovery Board, said children frequently don’t show anger or sadness regarding the death of another child, especially not right away.
“With kids, a lot of the grief comes about physically — stomachaches and headaches — because they don’t know how to express their feelings emotionally,” she said.
Caraway, too, said grieving family members typically receive lots of support in the days after a tragic event but frequently not so much later.
“It’s not going to go away,” Caraway said of the grief. “They need to learn to function in spite of it.”