Long Island Hospice Leads Conference On Coping With Public Tragedy

May 12, 2003
Public tragedies affect us all and the need to help individuals cope with public tragedies is increaasing, said Sarah Zimmerman of the East End Hospice in East Hampton, N.Y. She moderated the Hospice Foundation of America's recent teleconference on the issue.

“I think we’re all affected by the war and the potential to contract SARS. Just like the terrorist attacks. Our lives aren’t like they used to be . . . that’s a definite result from 9/11,” said Zimmerman. “Our world isn’t safe anymore, and that leads to loss of trust. There’s a definite mourning process that goes along with that. It’s normal for people to feel sad and insecure. It’s a definite loss.”

One issue that arose in the aftermath of 9/11 was helping those who had lost loved ones who weren’t victims of the terrorist acts. “I was really worried that these people in my group who lost a husband or a wife were going to feel like their loss was diminished. A lot of them did feel that way. They said 'Well, mine isn’t so bad.’ And of course their losses were just as tragic as those in 9/11 were,” Zimmerman said.

Although Zimmerman said she no longer has patients who are receiving bereavement care or counseling from 9/11, this summer’s Camp Good Grief, which helps children deal with the death of a loved one, will again be helping kids who lost someone in the attacks.

East End Hospice also provides a children’s program that through local schools. If schools have enough kids for a bereavement group, hospice staff counsel students in the familiar setting of the school. Hospice also provides educational programs, including its “Coping With The Holidays” series, offered annually around Christmas.

Zimmerman also noted that after the crash of Flight TWA 800, the Red Cross brought in “disaster mental health trained staff members” so that they could be first responders in times of crisis. During the recent period of Orange Alert that occurred in New York City, hospice staff was on stand-by for the Red Cross in case of emergency.

Public tragedies result in grief, trauma, violation, and victimization. They affect a large number of people both directly and indirectly, from survivors and witnesses, to medical professionals and funeral directors, to bereaved or affected families, to community members, she said. "They raise our awareness of our vulnerability, and many of us also empathize or identify with those affected."

Public tragedies also affect hospice workers and other helpers such as counselors, clergy, and funeral directors. While it is important to help others, panelists emphasized helpers need to “know their limits” and not neglect their own needs.

Some actions helpers can take to make a difference in their community are: partnering with local hospices, educating local reporters about the needs of the bereaved during times of crisis, making sure disaster planning efforts reflect the community’s cultural and ethnic diversity, receiving crisis-response training or hosting a training seminar, networking with other voluntary organizations and churches when responding to disasters, learning more about issues unique to traumatic loss, educating others about how disaster affects children differently than adults, encouraging respective employers to develop policies that support employees during times of grief, and donating blood.

The teleconference was number ten in an annual event sponsored by the Hospice Foundation of America. Zimmerman said attendance was unusually low, possibly because of the difficult subject matter.