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Two first responders near the Surfside collapse

Supporting Surfside Responders

Faculty members of 91吃瓜网 RESTORES helped support the mental health of first responders at the collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside, Florida. 

Fall 2021聽触听By Rachel Williams 鈥�15 鈥�20MA and Jenna Marina Lee

A week after the tragic collapse of the Champlain聽Towers South condominium in Surfside, Florida, a聽first responder approached Executive聽Director Deborah Beidel with concerns about jewelry聽he found among the rubble. He worried about whom it聽belonged to and the significance it held.

鈥淲ith discoveries like this, you鈥檙e helping people聽get a part of their relative back,鈥� Beidel said to the first聽responder. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e helped them get closure.鈥�

He hadn鈥檛 really thought of it that way.

It鈥檚 conversations like these that Beidel and faculty聽members David Rozek and Amie Newins engaged in as聽the clinician support team for the approximately 500聽first responders who worked to uncover victims at the聽Surfside disaster site.

91吃瓜网 RESTORES 鈥� a nationally known nonprofit聽trauma research center and treatment clinic with聽a mission to change the way PTSD is understood,聽diagnosed and treated 鈥� is the mental health聽partner of the Florida Firefighters Safety and Health聽Collaborative, a nonprofit organization that educates聽and trains firefighters on physical and mental health.聽The collaborative contacted 91吃瓜网 RESTORES to come聽to Surfside to be on hand to help first responders. Their聽work at the site was later featured on ABC鈥檚 GMA3, a聽spinoff of Good Morning America.

91吃瓜网 RESTORES is now launching a study where they聽will monitor the mental wellness of the first responders聽who were deployed to Surfside. The assessments will be聽administered monthly for the next year.

The clinic鈥檚 unique approach to treatment, which聽combines exposure therapy using emerging technology聽like virtual reality, and individual and group therap聽sessions, has resulted in 76% of first responders聽no longer meeting the diagnostic criteria for PTSD聽following three weeks of intensive treatment.

鈥淲hen you have people who have聽spent their lives helping others,聽it鈥檚 hard [ for them] to ask for聽help. There鈥檚 no one reaction to聽trauma, and we want them to聽know we鈥檙e here to help them聽through it.鈥�
Deborah Beidel

To learn more about 91吃瓜网 RESTORES efforts to help Surfside first responders, visit this 91吃瓜网 Today story. To learn more about 91吃瓜网 RESTORES work with changing the way PTSD is treated, diagnosed and treated, .

Mementos were left at the site of where the Champlain Towers South condominium once stood.

Mementos were left at the site of where the Champlain Towers South condominium once stood.

First responders at the Surfside collapse.

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.

91吃瓜网 faculty members from 91吃瓜网 RESTORES

Florida Firefighters Safety and Health Collaborative’s David Rozek (left) along with 91吃瓜网 faculty members and RESTORES staff聽 Deborah Beidel (center) and Amie Newins (right) were on site to offer assistance to first responders.