PTSD Expert Responds to Firefighters in Palm Beach

Palm Beach Fire Rescue hosts national firefighter PTSD expert for training course

WPTV 5 News

Amy Lipman

January 12, 2018

"Silence often surrounds the emotions that come with constantly witnessing tragedy."

PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. - More firefighters committed suicide in the U.S. than died in the line of duty in 2015 and 2016, according to the Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance. That group’s founder is part of a movement to try to change those statistics.

“Saying that we’re supposed to be strong and brave and handle it ourselves, it’s impossible to do," said Jeff Dill, founder and CEO of FBHA.

Palm Beach Fire Rescue firefighters along with members of other departments around the area sat in on training sessions with Dill. 

Years of research has gone into the course he around the country, but Indian River County Battalion Chief David Dangerfield is the reason he came to South Florida to talk about it. Dangerfield suffered from PTSD and committed suicide in October 2016. Dangerfield’s wife, Leslie, set up the training.

read more here 

Suicide Awareness Missing in Action

Liberty to lie should never be acceptable or profitable
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 13, 2018

People have not just taken the liberty to lie, they have made it seem acceptable. That is what is going on all over the country when someone uses veterans committing suicide as a cause for them to become a celebrity.

Sometimes they just don't know what the truth is. If they don't, then we need to be asking how they expect to change anything if they do not know what the facts are. How much time did they spend on researching the topic verses gaining publicity? What is it they hope to accomplish by "raising awareness" when they didn't even think to become aware of what works to change the ending they claim is so important to them? Veterans already know they are killing themselves. They don't know how to heal!

There is proof that Suicide Awareness has not worked in the last decade but no one has had to explain why they not only keep doing it, but deserve donations to continue to be so lax they do not even understand the solution. Any wonder why it has gotten worse for veterans to survive being back home?

These groups do not even mention the number of suicides while still in the military either.

Veterans over the age of 50 are 65% of the suicides, yet none of these groups paid attention to that fact. Why are they being left out of all this "awareness" all these new groups keep getting publicity for?

We have to start calling them out for a reason. Suicide only happens because people lose hope. If they keep pushing the number they grabbed from a headline, without bothering to read the damn reports, then all they are doing is showing veterans they really don't matter while putting the spotlight on too many veterans giving up.

This is an extremely complicated topic. There is far too much casual care folks are not aware of. Top that off with the simple fact that "raising awareness" has not done any good over the last decade.

Here are some headlines;

Illinois:
A unique way to raise awareness for veteran suicides

At a busy intersection in Georgetown is Patriot Park. Layton Warstler said "I can sit here and kind of reflect and remember all the veterans who have lost their lives in this town".But he didn't want to stay for a moment, he wanted to camp for 22 days raising awareness for veterans who commit suicide.He said he was "representing the 22 veterans on average that kill themselves and then voluntarily making myself homeless to bring awareness to homeless veterans".

Idaho:
Marine fighting against veteran suicides through non profit

BOISE, Idaho — According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, twenty-two veterans a day commit suicide. A Boise man is trying to help bring awareness to this disturbing trend. Last year after losing a friend he started Ride for 22 to further his cause. December 28th he ended up taking his own life,” Steven Exceen said.

Veteran suicide rate in spotlight as Easthampton Savings Bank execs join local police in no-shave 'Manuary'

What are they doing?

Murphy is one of dozens of Easthampton and Holyoke police officers growing beards during the month of January to raise funds for Twenty Two Until None, a non-profit devoted to ending veteran suicide.

That is the claim but when you go onto the site, you need to read it for yourself. How can any group be "devoted" without doing any basic research as to what has already been done over the last 40 years so they know what works and then do it? How can they claim to regard this topic as worthy of their time if they do not invest that time in even reading the reports? How do they expect to change the outcome when resources they list are to other places?

*******UPDATE*******

GRAND TRAVERSE COUNTY, Mich., (WPBN/WGTU) -- Students from two Traverse City high schools presented a $13,000 check to a veteran suicide prevention group.

During halftime at Friday night's Traverse City Central vs. Traverse City West basketball game students gave the check to 22 2 None.

*******

A few things seem like really good steps when their site lists helping the homeless and giving veterans emergency funds.

Police Officers are participating without knowing the truth. They are not doing it for police officers committing suicide, but supposedly for veterans without even reading the reports that the groups name derived from.

This was reported by Associated Press on Law Enforcement suicides.

Studies show there are about 125 to 150 officer suicides a year and more than 200,000 officers are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or some other form of emotional stress 

 They need to stop and actually gain some knowledge if they really intend to change the outcome. Do they know the "22 a day" VA report came from just 21 states limited data? Do they know why it was "limited data" at all?

For starters, California and Illinois did not have military service on their death certificates. Over 2 million in California and over 700,000 in Illinois were not included in on any of the research. 

The CDC did not count them on the following report if they were not honorably discharged because no state will allow them to have military service checked off on their death certificate. In some states, military service has to be connected to a "War" or they are not allowed to indicated it.

There are over 400,000 charities all over the country geared toward veterans. Over and over again, we read about them, what they claim and then read the reports showing the actual results of those claims.

Is the general public actually that disconnected from reality? Are members of the veterans community actually that disconnected from their own brothers and sisters? Are families actually that deluded they join the groups pushing a number that does not exist when one of their own was missing from that number as well as their lives?

Are we serious about any of this or not?

UPDATE Continued,
Really sorry that when awareness began, it was actually needed in the hopes that the people with the power to do something about it...would do it.  Some did, but mostly, people just did what they wanted to.

Aware: having or showing realization, perception, or knowledge

Beware: to be wary of

we must … beware the exceedingly tenuous generalization

 

 —Matthew Lipman

This is when veterans needed the public to be aware of what was happening to them when they were supposed to be safety back home from war. This is from The Suicide Wall

One Vietnam Veteran, who had been suicidal and wishes to remain anonymous, said, "After reading Suicide Wall, I am determined never to have my name on such a memorial."

In Chuck Deans' book, Nam Vet., printed in 1990 by Multnomah Press, Portland, Oregon, 97226, the author states that "Fifty-eight thousand plus died in the Vietnam War. Over 150,000 have committed suicide since the war ended". According to this book, Chuck Dean is a Vietnam Veteran who served in the 173rd Airborne, arriving in Vietnam in 1965. At the time the book was written, Mr. Dean was the executive director of Point Man International, a Seattle based, non-profit support organization dedicated to healing the war wounds of Vietnam Veterans.While doing research for his novel, Suicide Wall, Alexander Paul contacted Point Man International and was given the name of a retired VA doctor, and conducted a phone interview with him. In that interview, the doctor related that his estimate of the number of Vietnam Veteran suicides was 200,000 men, and that the reason the official suicide statistics were so much lower was that in many cases the suicides were documented as accidents, primarily single-car drunk driving accidents and self inflicted gunshot wounds that were not accompanied by a suicide note or statement. According to the doctor, the under reporting of suicides was primarily an act of kindness to the surviving relatives. 

April 05, 2007

Non-combat deaths-Non caring media and was followed up with this. 
April 16, 2007  Cause of death, because they served

Gee silly me, I thought that we were supposed to be helping veterans want to stay here instead of telling them how many we think decided to leave this earth!

Good news tied to not so good news

Just when you think you've read some good news for a change, turns out to be tied to not so good news.

Headline

Trump expands mental health benefits to decrease suicide rates among new veterans

Just like in his speech when he signed Executive Orders.

The problem is that when they leave military service, OEF and OIF veterans already received 5 years of free medical care...including mental health.

5 Years Cost Free Health Care

 OEF/OIF/OND combat Veterans can receive cost free medical care for any condition related to their service in the Iraq/Afghanistan theater for five years after the date of their discharge or release.

And that isn't something new.

Recent veterans are entitled to free health care, but many don't sign up (Which came out in September 2009)

The federal VA provides medical care and benefits to all enrolled veterans, with a range of preventive outpatient and inpatient services offered within its health care system. OEF/OIF veterans receive an additional benefit — five years of free health care in the VA system for any issue related to their deployment. As with other veterans, once enrolled in the system, they’re always in, but for issues not related to deployment or after those five free years, they may face co-payments. 

Plus this order does not include older veterans, who also served this country, risked their lives, came home with the same wounds, but waited longer for help.

No one seems to know how they plan on paying for the "Executive order" other than they will be taking money out of other places.

Military Pay Raise sounds good,

Headline

2018 military pay raise is the biggest in eight years, but how generous is it?

Included in the massive budget bill, finalized by the Senate Nov. 16 and expected to be signed into law by President Donald Trump in coming days, is a 2.4 percent pay raise for service members starting Jan. 1.

But at the same time we also had this headline,

Housing allowance for Fort Hood soldiers going down this year

For example, a sergeant stationed at Fort Hood with dependents received $1,134 for a housing allowance in 2017. That number has dropped by about 4 percent to $1,086 this year. A private with dependents who received $1,128 in 2017 will see a decrease to $1,083 this year, also about a 4 percent drop. A staff sergeant with dependents will see a drop from $1,200 to $1,107, a decrease of 7.75 percent.

And this one too, but it comes from Military.com and they got it all together.

2.1% Pay Raise, BAH Cuts, Tricare Fee Hikes Approved by Senate

As with all the talk about Veterans Choice, but as we know, it isn't something they have not been doing all along when a veteran cannot get to a VA hospital for emergency care. 

We had a reminder of that,

Headline

VA to begin paying up to 800,000 non-VA emergency claims

The revised rule says it won’t allow retroactive reimbursements for non-VA emergency care claim decisions that became final before April 8, 2016, the day VA lost a landmark federal court fight with Air Force veteran Richard W. Staab.Staab faced roughly $48,000 in unpaid private hospital bills after emergency heart surgery in December 2010. At the time VA had told Staab, and any other veteran forced to use outside emergency care, that the department would have covered the cost of such care if they had had no other health insurance.

As with everything else, they say always read the fine print, but when it comes to the way reporters have been doing their jobs, read everything and then figure out if it does sound too good to be true...it usually is. 

 

Judge Ruled Against Pulse Officer with PTSD? Seriously?

Ex-Orlando cop with PTSD gets suit against city denied by judge

My News 13

January 11, 2018

Former Orlando police officer and Pulse Nightclub shooting first responder Gerry Realin, who filed a lawsuit against his former employer, has been denied by a worker’s compensation judge. (File)

ORLANDO
A former Orlando police officer and Pulse Nightclub shooting first responder who filed a lawsuit against his former employer has been denied by a worker’s compensation judge. Judge Neal Pitts ruled against Gerry Realin in his case against the City of Orlando and the Orlando Police Department.

Realin developed PTSD after the shooting at Pulse Nightclub and claimed that OPD ignored safety procedures during cleanup of the incident.

Realin was part of a small Hazmat team who pulled bodies from the club for hours.
read more here

Vietnum Veteran?

Are  you still comfortably numb? It has been at least 40 years since you came home from Vietnam and the chances are, you have done everything to stop feeling. If you spent so much time and energy to get numb, you ended up being numb to the good stuff that makes life worth living.

Did you ever wonder what you were missing?

Tired of being numb?
PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
January 11, 2018

I was working on a video earlier today when I typed "Vietnum veteran" instead of Vietnam veteran. Before I went to edit the text, I kept looking at it. Then it dawned on me that actually works. Oh, sure you spell numb with the B, but actually "be" has been part of your problem all along. Being willing to settle for just being half alive is not really living. It is existing.

For more than 40 years, you've been focused on what you had to do instead of what you needed to do for yourself...and your family.

You went to work, often doing jobs that were almost as dangerous as being in Vietnam. You raised a family, and in a lot of cases, more than one...and then came the time when you didn't have to go to work anymore. Kids moved out, probably have kids of their own who grew up already. If you managed to stay married, your wife is probably retired too.

My husband had to retire before the age of 50.  Sixteen years later, I'm still working and have another decade to go before I can retire.
read the rest from my other site here