{"id":22321,"date":"2021-10-07T19:28:21","date_gmt":"2021-10-07T19:28:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/?p=22321&post_type=story"},"modified":"2023-12-01T15:44:50","modified_gmt":"2023-12-01T15:44:50","slug":"supporting-surfside-responders","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/supporting-surfside-responders\/","title":{"rendered":"Supporting Surfside Responders"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fall 2021\u00a0<\/em>|\u00a0By Rachel Williams <\/strong><\/em>\u201915 \u201920MA<\/strong> and Jenna Marina Lee<\/em><\/p>\n

A week after the tragic collapse of the Champlain\u00a0Towers South condominium in Surfside, Florida, a\u00a0first responder approached UCF RESTORES<\/a> Executive\u00a0Director Deborah Beidel with concerns about jewelry\u00a0he found among the rubble. He worried about whom it\u00a0belonged to and the significance it held.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith discoveries like this, you\u2019re helping people\u00a0get a part of their relative back,\u201d Beidel said to the first\u00a0responder. \u201cYou\u2019ve helped them get closure.\u201d<\/p>\n

He hadn\u2019t really thought of it that way.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s conversations like these that Beidel and faculty\u00a0members David Rozek and Amie Newins engaged in as\u00a0the clinician support team for the approximately 500\u00a0first responders who worked to uncover victims at the\u00a0Surfside disaster site.<\/p>\n

UCF RESTORES \u2014 a nationally known nonprofit\u00a0trauma research center and treatment clinic with\u00a0a mission to change the way PTSD is understood,\u00a0diagnosed and treated \u2014 is the mental health\u00a0partner of the Florida Firefighters Safety and Health\u00a0Collaborative, a nonprofit organization that educates\u00a0and trains firefighters on physical and mental health.\u00a0The collaborative contacted UCF RESTORES to come\u00a0to Surfside to be on hand to help first responders. Their\u00a0work at the site was later featured on ABC\u2019s GMA3<\/em>, a\u00a0spinoff of Good Morning America<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

UCF RESTORES is now launching a study where they\u00a0will monitor the mental wellness of the first responders\u00a0who were deployed to Surfside. The assessments will be\u00a0administered monthly for the next year.<\/p>\n

The clinic\u2019s unique approach to treatment, which\u00a0combines exposure therapy using emerging technology\u00a0like virtual reality, and individual and group therap\u00a0sessions, has resulted in 76% of first responders\u00a0no longer meeting the diagnostic criteria for PTSD\u00a0following three weeks of intensive treatment.
\n[blockquote source=”Deborah Beidel”]\u201cWhen you have people who have\u00a0spent their lives helping others,\u00a0it\u2019s hard [ for them] to ask for\u00a0help. There\u2019s no one reaction to\u00a0trauma, and we want them to\u00a0know we\u2019re here to help them\u00a0through it.\u201d [\/blockquote]
\nTo learn more about UCF RESTORES efforts to help Surfside first responders, visit this UCF Today story<\/a>. To learn more about UCF RESTORES work with changing the way PTSD is treated, diagnosed and treated, visit the organization’s site<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

[photo id=”22443″ title=”Pegasus-WEB-FA2021-infocus-restores-surfside-1200×800-4″ alt=”A Miami-Dade Fire Rescue shirt that has the following written on it: “You’re not our patients, you are our neighbors, you are our friends, you are our family. We knows you’re hurting. We are hurting top we just can’t show it yet. Surfside Strong”” width=”100%”]Mementos were left at the site of where the Champlain Towers South condominium once stood. [\/photo]<\/p>\n

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[photo id=”22441″ title=”Pegasus-WEB-FA2021-infocus-restores-surfside-1200×800-2″ alt=”First responders at the Surfside collapse.” width=”100%”]Search and rescue teams worked 12-hour shifts for weeks in rain, high winds, heat and humidity at the sight of the disaster that killed 98 people. [\/photo]<\/p>\n

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[photo id=”22442″ title=”Pegasus-WEB-FA2021-infocus-restores-surfside-1200×800-3″ alt=”UCF faculty members from UCF RESTORES” width=”100%”]Florida Firefighters Safety and Health Collaborative’s David Rozek (left) along with UCF faculty members and RESTORES staff\u00a0 Deborah Beidel (center) and Amie Newins (right) were on site to offer assistance to first responders. 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