When Fire Captain John Scavarda of Fire Station 44 was driving towards San Diego and found himself in the middle of a flashback to his deployment to the 1995 Oklahoma City terrorist bombing, he knew what to do. Thanks to his 20 years of training as a Peer Support Counselor, as well as the debriefing he received from other peer supporters following his deployment, Scavarda was able to pull by the side of the road, get through the flashback and continue on his way to his destination safely as well as understanding that what he experienced was a normal reaction to a traumatic situation.
The Department's Peer Support Program, also known as the Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) Program, was established for moments like Scavarda's, when our heroic firefighters and lifeguards who witness stressful, catastrophic events, try to process and make sense of the distressing incidents they experience. Formed on August 31, 1986, following the Cerritos Air Disaster, Fire Captains John Kuykendall and Wayne Ibers researched the development of a stress management program, recognizing the potential negative impact of traumatic incidents on our first responders. Kuykendall and Ibers were then joined by Marguerite Jordan, R.N. and then Fire Captain Mel Hokansen in implementing the Peer Support Program, using a model designed by Jeffrey T. Mitchell, Ph.D., and George S. Everly, Ph.D. The program has since grown to encompass providing assistance to both uniformed and civilian personnel with personal problems and tragedies including cumulative stress, family issues, destructive coping strategies such as drugs and alcohol, anger management issues and other matters.
Scavarda joined the program at the very beginning as a peer supporter. "The Fire Department is a family and it seemed like something I wanted to get involved with as far as helping out other firefighters," he says. He soon found himself on the other side of the coin when he, along with other Urban Search and Rescue members, returned from their deployment to Oklahoma City's Murrah Federal Building terrorist bombing incident, which claimed 168 lives, including 19 children under the age of six, and injured more than 680 people. After his debriefing of that incident, Scavarda realized the full impact of the program and became more seriously involved. "What they are finding is that over the career of an emergency responder, it's not one call that hits you, but rather a cumulative effect," says Scavarda. "When it's an incident that stands out, maybe there's a child or infant involved, that particular call may not bother you. But then you get 10, 12, maybe 15 similar calls over your career, your glass overfills. We provide tools on how to cope and manage your life better, giving simple techniques to keep your glass from overflowing."
Some techniques Scavarda recommends are exercising, drinking lots of water, eating healthy, and limiting caffeine and alcohol. He also encourages keeping significant others informed of what you may be going through. "You don't have to give them all the details, but just saying to them 'Hey, I had a real lousy day at work yesterday can you just be patient with me,' helps a lot. Otherwise they may push your buttons if they don't know."
Mostly, though, peer supporters are just there to listen. "Many times just by talking to someone our personnel are able to answer their own questions," says Scavarda. "Other times it just helps them to know someone else cares and that they're not going crazy. Someone may have nightmares for example, and think they're going crazy. But when they find out that nightmares are just your brain's way of 'rebooting' and trying to process what you've experienced, and is a normal reaction, they are able to feel better and go back to sleep, as opposed to staying up all night worrying."
Flashbacks are another common occurrence which Scavarda knows firsthand. "When I had a flashback, I was suddenly back in the stairwell of the Oklahoma Federal Building. I could smell the dust, the decaying bodies, see the staircase. But the people who gave us our debriefing told us it would happen. So I pulled over, waited a couple of minutes and was able to continue to have a great day." As it turned out, his flashback was triggered when he passed by a building that had similar colored windows to those of a building next door to the decimated Oklahoma City building.
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