After the Devastation, or Destruction and Deaths or War, or any Extreme Trauma………….

(noon. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

After some four decades of activism and advocacy by many, many doing much more then I was able to do especially prior to this technology becoming so widespread, but ignoring by the greater majorities, finally the issues of life, and experiences in living, are becoming better understood and more are paying the much needed and long overdue attention, especially related to the children.

Haiti: After the Devastation the Emotional Wreckage

The scale of the earthquake devastation in Haiti is all but impossible to measure accurately now. Eventually, it will be reduced to hard numbers: so many people killed, so many buildings destroyed, so much wealth and infrastructure lost. There will, however, be invisible injuries too – to the psyches of the survivors. Emotional wounds may be the slowest to develop, but they can also be among the toughest to heal.

It may seem premature to think about now, but Haitians who survive the horrific earthquake will be at risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The above leads directly into the following, where the list would be far to long and go back to the beginning of time, for the effects of extreme traumatic experiences on many has always been with us. It isn’t just the many, or even just the few amoug the many, it’s everyone who’s lives and thoughts have changed from what they’ve lived through or experienced individually or as a part of a whole group.

Americans have become increasingly familiar with PTSD in the wake of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, not to mention in the experiences of veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – who have suffered such symptoms as depression, anxiety, emotional numbing, sleep difficulties, substance abuse and more. The Veterans Administration estimates that 7% to 8% of the U.S. population will suffer from the disorder at some point and 5.2 million Americans experience it in a given year.

In the extreme devastation of what happened in Haiti, and will continue day by day, it won’t only be the Haitians but those who are poring into that poor country to help as well, even if having similar experiences in the past. Their individual experiences, within the whole of the groups, will effect them all. Those helping will leave but the Haitians live there and will continue to, rebuilding Haiti and their lives, just like all who do so after the extreme change in what was and now is, with the memories.

Indeed, most people function remarkably well in the midst of a crisis. It’s only when the shaking or the shooting or the flooding stops that PTSD begins to appear. “The psychological impact doesn’t occur until several months later,” said Nicolas. “When things get quiet…you start to feel the impact and the sadness of the images you witnessed.”

That post part of the post-traumatic reaction is what so often takes people by surprise. The brain, however, processes fear in a particularly lasting way and once lessons about danger are learned they’re very hard to unlearn. Indeed, research that was coincidentally published in the New England Journal of Medicine the day after the quake shed some light on that idea.

Ultimately, though, the PTSD will show itself….>>>>>

Call me old fashion but I took one of the lessons of growing up, adults have a responsibility to those who come after them, in trying to be that responsible adult, with many faults like all, who want to leave behind a better world and understanding of for the children behind us. Anything I try and do as to activism and advocacy are for the present situations but more importantly for the futures the young will grow into.

Haiti children face ongoing disease and trauma

Children in Haiti face are incredibly vulnerable to injury, illness and trauma

Some of the most harrowing stories coming out of the devastation in Haiti are those of children, alone, scared and severely injured.

Under-18s make up almost half of Haiti’s 10-million population and aid agencies are warning they are at great risk from ongoing physical and psychological trauma….>>>>>

A few, an extremely few, will be lucky enough to be airlifted out for the care needed for their extreme physical injuries and possibly a start on the mental trauma but they will return and part of the rebuilding must take note that they all will need further care.

Injured Haitian children arrive at JMH, while injured U.S. citizens to land in Homestead

Two Haitian children, ages 5 and 7, were among the first wave of Haitian earthquake survivors that arrived at Jackson Memorial Hospital’s trauma center Wednesday.

Hospital officials, are bracing for many more — and Sen. Bill Nelson said Miami will likely be ground zero for injured refugees coming to this country…..>>>>>

I caught a report yesterday where they were talking to this soldier, she’s one of them, this is her first deployment since joining. The little stories, and there are many, that come out, like rescues etc., help in easing the trauma that surrounds everyone and one like this will be especially helpful for the children she will come into contact with, but those numbers will be few in the many living the experience.

Haiti mission is personal for some soldiers

A crowd of Haitians started cheering when Pfc. Berlinda Olivier spoke to them in their own language, Haitian Creole.

Olivier’s first sergeant told her not to get the crowd excited.

She replied, “First sergeant, I didn’t say anything to get them excited. All I did was start speaking”…..to the article writeup

PFC Berlinda Olivier’s first deployment with the 82nd Airborne is bittersweet.

That small storyline is a good way to close this out as each day goes into the next then into the weeks and then the months and years after, of many many many small individual stories.

4 comments

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    • jimstaro on January 18, 2010 at 13:58
      Author

    You can say anything you want about Any group of people, after all it’s free speech even the extreme slandering, but be it known, those groups have many who Serve This Country and it’s Constitution, unlike most of you and especially most of those who listen to you and then parrot your remarks or give you praise for saying them!!

    • jimstaro on January 18, 2010 at 14:19
      Author

    Director of SOS Children’s Villages Haiti

    January 17, 2009: In an interview today, Celigny Darius, Director of SOS Children’s Villages Haiti, described his experience during the January 12 earthquake and the situation on the ground in Port-au-Prince. The transcript from the interview is below….>>>>>

    • jimstaro on January 18, 2010 at 15:16
      Author

    U.S. troops to help Haiti’s security; aid flows in

    The United States was to send more troops on Monday to aid in Haiti’s rescue as tens of thousands of hungry, thirsty and injured Haitian earthquake survivors waited desperately for promised food and medical care.

    The U.S. Southern Command said some 2,200 Marines with heavy equipment to clear debris, medical aid and helicopters, would join some 5,000 U.S. troops already in the region. The aim is to have approximately 10,000 U.S. troops in the area to participate in the rescue operation, spokesman Jose Ruiz of the U.S. Southern Command said…..>>>>>

  1. Forgive me if this is already common knowledge (I’m usually the last to hear about these things). Tomorrow an international fundraising and solidarity event is being staged. From the Wear Red for Haiti facebook page:

    Wear Red for Haiti

    Type: Causes – Rally

    Network: Global

    Date: Tuesday, January 19, 2010

    Time: 12:00pm – 11:55pm

    Location: Everywhere (There’s no specific place, it’s a nationwide/worldwide event)

    DescriptionCREDIT TO RACHEL YORKSTON FOR THIS LINK! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v… Everyone should listen to this. It’s called Together (A Song for Haiti) and was recorded by the High School of Recording Arts. The “first step” that they’re talking about? It’s exactly what you all are doing right now, coming together to show your support. By showing our support for these people, we WILL increase the donations given and we WILL make a difference in the lives of everyone affected by this quake.

    Show your support for the victims of the earthquake disaster in Haiti by wearing red on January 19. We’re all one people and we all share this world, and we must stand up for one another when others begin to fall apart.

    Everyone who joins this group, if you would invite all of your friends and tell them to do the same with theirs. If we work together then we can show our strong support for those who have been affected by this unprecedented tragedy.

    IF YOU HAVE A TWITTER, TWEET THE LINK TO THIS EVENT SO THAT ALL OF YOUR FOLLOWERS WHO HAVE A FACEBOOK WILL BE AWARE OF IT! TELL THEM TO CONTINUE TWEETING IT AS WELL!

    If you are interested in donating money to the victims, you can do so in several different ways:

    1. Text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to the American Red Cross which is also aiding in the efforts.

    2. Obviously if you are aware of any charities sending money to the victims, these would work as well.

    Here is a long list of organizations participating in Haiti as of right now, so if you have the money to spare, please give what you can to help these people. http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING

    UPDATE: Actor Ben Stiller has just announced that ALL donations given through his charity StillerStrong (http://www.stillerstrong.org/) will go directly toward the disaster relief in Haiti. This is just another excellent way to show your support for the Haitian people.

    IMPORTANT: If you are searching for relatives or friends who may have been in Haiti at the time of the earthquake, go to http://www.familylinks.icrc.or… It is an excellent site that hopefully will reunite you with anyone that may be missing.

    January 15, 4:00 AM – 40,000 members

    January 15, 4:05 PM – 80,000 members

    January 15, 8:45 PM – 120,000 members

    January 16, 5:30 AM – 160,000 members

    January 16, 12:50 PM – 200,000 members

    January 16, 5:00 PM – 240,000 members

    January 16, 9:10 PM – 280,000 members

    January 17, 12:30 AM – 320,000 members

    January 17, 10:00 AM – 360,000 members

    January 17, 1:45 PM – 400,000 members

    January 17, 5:05 PM – 440,000 members

    January 17, 8:15 PM – 480,000 members

    January 17, 10:50 PM – 520,000 members

    I would just like to take this chance to explain some things that I’ve been noticing in the wall posts. This event is in absolutely no way limited to just wearing red as a show of support. In fact, I would encourage EVERYONE to donate, no matter how much or how little they can manage. Obviously only wearing red is going to send no tangible help to the citizens of Haiti, but what it WILL do is draw more attention to the cause, hopefully ultimately resulting in greater donations to the disaster relief. Will wearing red solve this crisis? No. But directing a greater scope of attention to the situation is extremely important, and THAT is the core purpose of this event.

    UPDATE: I’m sorry to everyone who is posting supportive comments on the wall of this event, but it will now be disabled until further notice because of people who are doing nothing but trying to spread hate within the group. If you would like to say something, feel free to send your messages to my inbox and I’ll do the best I can to respond back to all of you.

    Pass the word.

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