Psychological first aid in a disaster

On Saturday May 18th, the Cannon Beach Medical Reserve Corp (MRC) gathered at the Cannon Beach Community Church for training on “psychological first aid”, presented by Lisa Kaufman, a behavioral health and emergency planning consultant. Members of Cannon Beach DART and MRC were joined by members of Cannon Beach CERT, Clatsop County Search and Rescue, Seaside CERT and Nehalem Bay CERT.

“Psychological First Aid is a supportive and compassionate response designed to reduce acute psychological distress and to provide immediate support to people affected by disasters.” The participants learned about how emergency events and mass trauma events affect the behavioral health of individuals, families and communities. The goal was to define and formulate psychological first-aid techniques to reduce and mitigate the stress of emergency events with a timely response to emergencies and mass trauma disasters.

The reality of disaster behavioral health is that no one who sees a disaster is untouched by it. Disasters can affect the individual as well as the social fabric of a community. The physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual responses to a crisis can vary depending on how one reacts to the stress of the situation and those who will need more support.

A Cascadia subduction-zone earthquake and tsunami in Cannon Beach is a disaster no one wants to experience; with a major windstorm, wildfire or flood more likely to occur in the near future. Emergency responders and community volunteers need to be prepared to help the 1,500 residents, in addition to the large number of visitors who would need assistance following a major disaster, with the majority of them unprepared. In the aftermath of a major disaster, outside assistance to Cannon Beach will be delayed for days or weeks. It is important to be prepared with “go bags” for yourself, family members and your pets so that volunteers and professional responders are able to assist and mitigate some of the emotional and psychological strain that many of us will experience.

Information on go bags can be found on the City of Cannon Beach website under Emergency Management.