Debriefing for people involved in disasters sought

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines – The Department of Health (DOH) recommended yesterday that typhoon victims, volunteers, rescuers, and even journalists undergo psychological processing and stress debriefing to overcome possible trauma caused by their ordeal during the calamity.

Health officials said that it is common for people who have experienced disaster and relief operations to suffer trauma and stress.

Dr. Gwendolyn Cayat, Baguio General Hospital (BGH) psychiatry division chief, said aside from the victims of calamities, all individuals involved in search and rescue operations and disaster management should undergo stress debriefing so they can relieve themselves of the emotional shock and long-lasting psychological effect of their traumatic experience.

Cayat said the BGH psychiatric division had earlier conducted Critical Incidence Stress Debriefing to residents in areas directly affected by typhoon “Pepeng” that brought heavy rains that caused floods and landslides in Baguio, Benguet, and Pangasinan.

She said her group went to evacuation centers and conducted stress debriefing with typhoon victims.

Cayat said even rescuers and volunteers who responded to calamity areas could request treatment from the psychiatry department of hospitals.

She said stress debriefing should be conducted 24 to 72 hours after a disaster or traumatic event.

Doctors said that the trauma could sometimes recur if debriefing is not conducted immediately.

She added that the body has its own way of coping with stress but it is best to undergo a methodological approach in dealing with it.

Case studies of trauma

Even experienced disaster management officers have confirmed that they are not immune to trauma after a calamity.

Jojo Valera, an employee of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD)-Cordillera for the past six years, said that sometimes he thinks of more catastrophic events.

Valera said he sometimes dreams that the incident was far worse and he and his colleagues were victims themselves during the rescue and retrieval operations.

Valera, who hails from Abra and was also a member of the Search and Rescue, Transportation and Communications team before he joined the OCD, said that he has not yet undergone debriefing after Pepeng.

Alex Uy, operations and training chief of the OCD-Cordillera, admitted that rescuers often have dreams about the incident.

“My officemate even experienced through his dream that dead victims went to their office to process their documents for financial assistance.”

He said as of now, all his colleagues at the OCD-CAR had not undergone debriefing since the work has not stopped.

Rafael Valencia, chief of the private-run 911 On-Call who had been in rescue for over 20 years, said trauma often is experienced by those who are new in the field.

Valencia advised his colleagues that once they are in the disaster area “do not let your emotions hamper you in your actual job.”

Veteran photojournalist Fernando Zapata Jr. of The STAR, who has been covering news stories for more than 20 years, admitted he still has nightmares about gory incidents like those he covered at the height of typhoon Pepeng.

“I had a bad dream the night after,” he said.

Tom Picana, another veteran news correspondent, admitted that his years on the beat had not excused him from dreaming bad things after covering Pepeng’s devastation.

“I dreamt that there was a child in the flood at City Camp Lagoon and as I tried to save him, I had cramps and I was the one who drowned.”

Another senior journalist had his own kind of stress debriefing: “I drink (liquor) a lot until I forget what happened.”