Aftermath of 9-11 leaves PTSD legacy

A few hours on one September morning shattered the city of New York, the state and the entire nation. One morning. We read about what happened that day along with what came after with PTSD cases, illnesses and yes, even suicide cases. We read about broken families. Why is it so easy for us to understand what came after 9-11 when we cannot seem to find the same level of understanding when it comes to the police officers the rest of time on duty, the firefighters the rest of their time on duty or the emergency responders the rest of their time on duty? Where is this understanding when National Guardsmen come home or the troops, or the veterans years after they were exposed to traumatic events over and over and over again?

Let that sink in a moment then read the following.

Ground Zero workers 'six times more likely to be stressed'
InTheNews.co.uk - London,UK
Monday, 02 Feb 2009 08:02
Workers at Ground Zero six times more likely to suffer from serious stress disorders, study shows Printer friendly version Ironworkers at Ground Zero are almost six times more likely to suffer from serious stress disorders than the general public, a new study showed today.

Research published today revealed that 18.5 ironworkers situated at the ruins of the World Trade Centre suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

In comparison, the national average in the United States is 3.5 per cent.

Of the study's 124 participants – all of whom attended the World Trade Centre mental health screening programme in New York City between 14 and 17 months after the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks – 60 per cent displayed symptoms of psychiatric disorders.

As well as establishing a causal link between PTSD and working at Ground Zero, researchers, publishing their study in Psychiatric Bulletin, revealed near double rates of anxiety and panic attacks among participants. click link for more

Here you have us in the year 2009 but we're still talking about what happened that one morning on September 11, 2001. We still want to hear about the police officers, firefighters, the survivors and what happened to family members. We find it so easy to look at how their lives changed from this one morning but we don't want to look at how the lives change of those we send into combat or their families.

As bad as that is, yesterday I posted about how to normalize PTSD when it comes to the troops and veterans. That's because PTSD is a human wound caused by traumatic events, like this one morning in September. We need to help the troops and veterans let this sink into their own brains. New York experienced the horrific images of carnage but the troops and veterans experience this type of event over and over again. They cannot understand that sooner or later it does get to them simply because they are still human despite all the training, planing and equipping they receive. No matter how hard the military may try, they cannot prevent the men and women serving from being human. PTSD cannot be prevented unless somehow someone manages to stop all crime, stop all natural disasters, stop all fires and stop all wars.

As much as we claim to value the troops and the veterans this one fact is what makes them just like the rest of us and it's about time someone got the message thru to them that they are in fact still humans and they suffer like any other human. They need help like any other human. Would they think the people that responded to ground zero are weak or would they understand? Would they think the firefighters and police officers rushing to the Twin Towers were cowards because they didn't walk away the same as they rushed in or would they admire their courage in the first place? Then why can't they let those facts translate into what they go through? Why can't we make sure they look at themselves as a human first and a warrior second?

One month from today, 9-11 7 years later

This is one of the sites the Bush administration would rather you did not see when you remember the day heroes rushed in while others were running away. They came from all over to help after one of the most traumatic events this nation had ever seen and many did it without pay then or pay back after. They are the police, firemen and first responders who spent weeks on end searching for the remains of the fallen and the civilians. They have been paying for it all ever since. They were volunteers for the most part and are not compensated by workmen's comp. Their health has kept far too many of them from working and most of them have received no financial help at all. All of this after they were called heroes after 9-11. They breathed in air the government knew could kill them and then deserted them. When the bell tolls a month from today, when the names are read of the fallen, remember these men and women and those who paid the price for their service to NY that day. They died and are dying for attention but no one wants to remember any of them in the position to take care of them.

There were contractors who rushed in from all over the country as well just trying to whatever they could and they are dying as well. Who is doing anything about any of this after all this time?

Here is just one picture you'll see on this site.

I'd like my wife to be remembered as a person who wasn't afraid to do her job, and her most important thing was the kids. Really, everything she did was for our two kids. When it came time to do her job she did her job, no questions asked. She was a very good mother, a good wife, and an excellent paramedic." - Husband David Reeve, FDNY Paramedic

The wake for FDNY Paramedic Deborah Reeve, who died of cancer from working at Ground Zero after 9/11. The Bronx, New York, 3/19/2006.

http://www.sohoblues.com/9-11-Still-Killing.html