First responders only human after all
The traffic ahead was slowing to a crawl. Only this time it wasn’t congestion it was an accident.
Far ahead I could see the flashing red and blue lights of police cars at the scene, sending a signal to those crawling along in the growing queue of traffic that something big had gone down.
I was en route to Wayne ‘Knightshade’ Elliott’s funeral and I was caught up in the crash, between Tauranga and Hamilton at the intersection of State Highway 29 and Hopkins Rd on Monday.
As I sat in the car waiting for the traffic to clear my mind turned to an earlier discussion with a friend of mine now resident in Breckenridge Colorado. John is involved with Search and Rescue (SAR) high in the Colorado mountains.
We were talking about first responders, those people tasked with giving help to those in accidents.
It was clear from the growing line of traffic this was a serious and possibly fatal accident and our Waikato first responders were going to work in one of the toughest work environments anywhere on Earth, traffic accident scenes.
My mind turned to the brave men and women who were the first responders to the crash on Monday. They are the people who see first hand the sights no one should see.
As I sat in my car safe and a long way away from the carnage, I wondered what the men and women might be seeing and dealing with as human flesh hits steel and plastic at speed.
First responders are human, not unfeeling professionals who can distance themselves from the sight of mangled bodies with total impunity. They go home with images that linger. It is now recognised post traumatic stress is an occupational reality for first responders.
John’s stories were harrowing as he spoke of rescues in the Colorado mountains and body recovery in fatal accidents that affected members of the SAR team as they helped skiers, climbers, hikers, mountain bikers – anyone in trouble.
John thinks the people who are not first responders somehow think people who are, are different from them in some way.
‘‘Some people it affects more than others for sure – and where I live there is a huge peer to peer effort for support and to make it ok to be traumatised by an incident and get support. We are actually relatively lucky compared to ‘‘civilians’’ involved in these situations. Support resources for them are limited to non-existent.’’
That we believe our first responders who pick up the mangled body parts and clean up fatal accident and crime scenes can go home unaffected is the way it is so often perceived.
These are professional workers doing a job. But they are human. They too have families and a job description does not remove a human response to human situations of death or injury.
The reality for first responders and those involved in traumatic cases, was brutally revealed this week as Detective Inspector Scott Beard spoke with raw emotion about the scene where murdered tourist Grace Millane’s body lay.
Detective Inspector Beard revealed he has a daughter Grace’s age. As he spoke, the human side to the story emerged that few of us ever see. This wasn’t a case of an officer seeing a corpse and walking away unaffected. This was emotional and traumatic and he will carry those images in his memory for life.
He refused to detail the condition of the body, but it was clear from his stuttering language and body language the scene is beyond words.
This moment should be etched in every New Zealander’s memory who saw it. Our cops and rescue teams are people with real emotions. They aren’t immune because they wear a badge.
We should remember there are others who will also be affected by the sights they have seen as they go about their daily work picking up broken bodies at accident scenes and deal with the families left behind.
Our first responders, our police, our surf life savers, our fire crews and ambulance teams and many others are human. We shouldn’t expect or require them to fake their dissonance from the scenes of trauma.
This summer there will be more accidents and deaths. Fatalities are increasing on our roads as the vehicle fleet increases.
Boaties too will place themselves in serious situations, while others in outdoor sports may require rescue teams or body recovery following serious accidents as happened last week with the death of paraglider Richard Marriner at Mt Maunganui.
As we head into the holiday season spare a thought for those first responders who are on duty, who will see accident and traumatic scenes that most of us can’t imagine.
We need to be collectively more supportive to the teams that do the work none of us would choose to be part of during the holiday season (or any other time).
This column is dedicated with thanks to our first responders.
We appreciate your professional conduct during our time of need, but we also welcome your human side and hope we can play a role in being supportive of you when you need us.
Our cops and rescue teams are people with real emotions. They aren’t immune because they wear a badge.