Divegoose my humble apologies I don't know how I managed to miss firefighters in my list. ANY emergence service provider from the first aider on the scene all the way up to the highest qualified person and the people who work on the body after death are subject to PTSD.
I was on the Ambulance call out team for Peer Debriefing/Defusing. The Psychiatrist in charge of training our team gave the best description I have ever heard of the phenomenon (for lack of a better word).
Dr Toby Snelgrove told us..
"All emergency services providers build up a "slide show" in their heads. They see things that they will never be able to forget and it changes them. Things will happen that trigger your slide show. That is normal. It is when you can't CONTROL the slide show and turn it off that you are in trouble!"
That resonated with me at the time. I had calls where I arrived at a scene and I could literally feel my internal camera "Capturing the shot" for my slide show! At the time of his statement I admit I thought he was wrong about "it changes you." I thought to myself.. "No it won't change ME!" I won't go into it but it turns out he was right about that too.
Here is something else I always told my students and the new Paramendics I trained back my Ambulance days. "Everyone is going to die sooner or later. There will come a point where the best care in the world will not be able to change that. Dying alone, afraid, in pain with nobody around that cares is tragic. We don't know when the last moment of awareness happens. If the last thing they hear is your voice, it is kind and reassuring and they know they are not alone that may make their passing just a little easier for them.. it is an incredible privilege to do something that significant for another human being."
On a personal note that was the hardest thing for me when our dive buddy separated from us and we failed to save her. That I wasn't THERE for HER! That is where my personal second guessing happened. It took a professional counselor telling me over and over ..
"You didn't choose to let her die alone... SHE chose to swim away from you... repeatedly and that is why she died alone!"
But this is not about my story... this is about yours.
People make choices, some choose to dive solo and it is their right to do so. Please tho if you choose to dive with buddies.. for their sake BE A BUDDY they can't be your buddy without your co-operation! Their choices mean they have to accept the consequences good or bad. I am not convinced from the sounds of things that John would have survived had he had his "Event" in the emergency department of the hospital.
Just to be clear here. Moderators are also regular members of Scubaboard. We engage in threads to post our personal opinions and experiences like everyone else. As such our posts carry no more weight than any other member to be judged on their merit. boulderjohn and I are participating here as regular members or we would have indicated by posting the Moderator Message in our posts.
When we post as members we may also be moderated as any other member.... :doh: coming to the point.. It is my PERSONAL opinion that this discussion is NOT a hijack and is appropriate because it
is addressing the event. A&I is about discussing events to help divers stay safe and prevent future incidents. Discussing how the event impacted the diver who tried his best to save another falls within that goal IMHO. As I have said before, if we are supportive, humane and respectful to those who have been involved in these events we will all learn more about them for everyone's sake!
