By ROBIN FITZGERALD
Biloxi Sun Herald
Desperate calls for help. The shock of finding the dead. The rush to save the living. And ongoing work in the face of frustration.
How much stress can first-responders handle before it takes its toll?
Those who want to know - and to learn healthy ways to deal with the stress - can attend tonight’s seminar, “After the Hurricanes: Taking Care of the Heroes.”
The 7 p.m. seminar at the Crystal Inn is one of three free workshops offered in the Gulf states by the Theosophical Society in America. The instructor is Dr. Holly Tanigoshi, an associate professor at Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y.
The workshops are for law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, health care professionals, military personnel and others who put personal losses aside to assist in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
“Emergency personnel continue to be traumatized, serving on the front lines and dealing with traumatized people while also trying to deal with their own losses,” said Dr. Barbara Hebert, Theosophical Society spokeswoman.
“They are truly heroes.”
Tanigoshi has conducted similar workshops around the nation. She earned a doctorate in counselor education from the University of New Orleans.
The workshops provide information on physical and psychological responses to stress and trauma and specific methods for managing healthy responses.
Hebert said her group wanted to help Katrina survivors and decided that help for first-responders would also help their families and the communities they serve.
“A houseful of furniture would have helped only one family,” she said.
The Theosophical Society is a nonprofit group that promotes unity among world religions, philosophy, science and the arts.