Video: Responding To Help First Responders

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CLAY COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) — They are on the scene at a moments notice giving aide to the injured in shootings, accidents, fires, tornadoes, and other disasters. Sometimes without warning, first responders may even encounter gruesome crime scenes.

Emergency personnel, whether firefighters, law enforcement, or other medical professionals, bravely do what’s required of them. Often when they leave the scene they may take with them scares that may be hidden from plain view.

“You have survival guilt, you have the nightmares, you have the depression. And those things that come with it. Even you have the suicidal thoughts,” Janice McGee with Community Counseling Services said.

In Clay County, a couple died Thursday night on Dr. Sears Road in a house fire. For local first responders, they are not just victims, they are neighbors. There’s a job to be done, while there is grief to be processed.

“Our heart goes out to the families in this. Actually its the family of one of my staff members that works here,” Clay County Sheriff Eddie Scott said.

Months after the deadly April tornado in Louisville, Winston County Sheriff Jason Pugh reflects on that day, when so many needed help in their close-knit community.

“It was a trying time on our first responders. Our firefighters, our deputies, our police officers. You know if they didn’t have a family member that was involved they definitely had a close friend that was involved in some point,” Winston County Sheriff Jason Pugh said.

Pugh and his family, who have plans on rebuilding, lived to tell their story of how they weathered the storm on McCullough Road where an empty lot is. First responders also must be brave enough to seek help for themselves, for what they often never seem to shake.

“Some people like a day may get over it. Others it takes a week. Others it takes a month, takes a year to get over it. And everybody deals with disasters differently,” McGee said.

The Community Counseling Services hotline is available 24/7 and they even provide services via M-Cert, the mobile crisis response team. To learn more about their services dial 662-494-7060 or email jmcgee@ccms.org.

Categories: Local News

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