President George W Bush 43 delivered a COVID19 message powerfully to America. It called for an end to partisanship in favor of everyone helping their community.
Bush tweeted on Saturday a video encouraging Americans to be their best selves during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We serve our neighbor by separating from them,” Bush said in the video. “We cannot allow physical separation to become emotional isolation. This requires us to not only be compassionate but creative in our outreach.”
He added, “Let us remember empathy and simple kindness are essential, powerful tools of national recovery. Even at an appropriate social distance, we can find the way to be present in the lives of others. … In the final analysis, we are not partisan combatants. We’re human beings, equally vulnerable and equally wonderful in the sight of God.”
President George H W Bush 41 and President George W Bush 43 – Commitment to Service
Both Presidents Bush have been known for their commitment to public service.
From the end of his one term as president through his death at 94, President Bush 41 turned his focus toward inspiring others to pursue public service through his Points of Light Foundation. He also worked with former President Bill Clinton to raise funds in the wake of natural disasters such as the 2004 southeast Asian tsunami.
Simiularly President Bush 43 has been involved with the AIDS/HIV epidemic in Africa, empowering women in the public realm, and the Call to Unite program.
Jason Knox (Houston Police Department) was killed and another officer was in critical condition when their helicopter clipped a building Saturday. May 2, 2020 per NBC News.
The pilot and Officer Knox were on a routine work call out when they crashed at approximately 2 a.m. said Art Acevedo, Houston Chief of Police. Both were trapped in the helicopter’s “mangled wreckage.” They were freed by fire department responders before being transferred to the Memorial Hermann Hospital.
The pilot remains in a “critical condition” and was “very banged up” Acevedo said.
In a Facebook post, Never Forget 9-11 Foundation board Member Christopher Suprun reflected on the dangers of public safety and public safety helicopter operations saying “I have been in public safety since 1992 and my job will kill you if you screw up. You can be young or old. It can be day or night. If you fly, it can be single or twin engine. Bottom line is your next mistake might be your last. Mistakes happen, but you gotta do everything possible to make the small mistakes as far apart as possible.”
Officer Jason Knox
Knox leaves behind a wife and two children. The department said he had been on the force for nearly eight years and was an air and marine division officer for more than a year.
We know emergency responders battle everything from fires to terrorist threats. They respond to the public’s worst day. Emergency responders, be they fire, EMS, or police are modern-day heroes and should receive all the support they need to thrive outside work. Too often they reject help they need to do their job.
In many instances first responders suffer neglect from a society that does not understand all what goes into the day to day activities in our job. Even close family members and friends may turn a blind eye and deaf ear to what we live at work. Emergency responders face humanity at its worst state on a daily basis.
With all that emergency responders deal with, and given the lack of support from society at large, it is little wonder why many police officers, firefighters, and emergency services staff like paramedics and EMTs become addicted to drugs and alcohol. In fact, about 30 percent of first responders develop mental issues that may lead to drug abuse during their time of service.
Quest 2 Recovery has a mental health program designed to help first responders recover from drug and alcohol abuse.
Reject Help?
It’s well known that emergency responders experience higher levels of stress and emotional trauma that have a negative impact on physical and emotional health. First responders perform a job that requires troubleshooting and mitigating emergencies, mental health issues are all too common for them, like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
PTSD is usually triggered by a specific event – either experienced or witnessed. PTSD symptoms can include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety. Since everyone is different and processes trauma in different ways, symptoms of PTSD can vary from person to person. Symptoms are grouped into four types: intrusive memories, avoidance, negative changes in thinking and mood, and changes in physical and emotional reactions.
It’s also common for first responders to develop substance abuse issues.These can develop slowly and without warning. Working professionals look forward to unwinding after work – sometimes with a drink. Sometimes it’s in the comfort of their own home or sometimes with friends. The same goes for first responders. The difference between the two is the person working a desk job probably doesn’t have trouble sleeping at night, whereas the first responder may be up all night reliving the trauma they experienced during the day. The one drink the first responder uses to unwind after work could turn into drinking an entire bottle so they can fall asleep.
Addiction is something that develops over time, especially when unresolved trauma and stress build up. We hope if you’re a first responder struggling with mental illness and addiction you will not reject help, but will reach out to an organization like Quest 2 Recovery or the All Clear Foundation. It can be challenging for our community front line to emergencies to seek help because they’re worried about the stigma of ‘not being able to handle the job’, but getting help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. Never Forget 9-11 Foundation will always support responders working to overcome the adversity of this job.
A Colorado paramedic dies in the COVID19 response. Paul Cary, 66, volunteered to go to New York with Ambulnz’s coronavirus response team, his employer confirmed to KDVR News. Paul from the Denver metro area died Thursday after treating COVID-19 patients in New York City.
Cary tested positive for the virus about one week ago.
Like September 11 attacks, responders from across the nation are joining their comrades from across the country. “He risked his own health and safety to protect others and left this world a better place. We are at peace knowing that Paul did what he loved and what he believed in, right up until the very end,” his family said in a statement.
Colorado Paramedic
Before working as an EMS paramedic for Ambulnz, an ambulance services provider, Cary spent more than 30 years with Aurora Fire Rescue as a firefighter and paramedic. Cary is survived by two sons and four grandchildren. Funeral details have not yet been announced.
COVID19 Line of Duty Deaths
Fire and police associations are working towards creating a Line of Duty Death – LODD list for confirmed deaths secondary to COVID19.
The New York Times profiled two paramedics conquering COVID19 in a piece about EMS response to COVID19 in New York City. The article which looks at the lives of Kenny Cheng and Sean Mahoney responding to “regular” calls and COVID19. The surprise in the reporter’s voice seems to hit the mark again and again: ‘Such is the disturbing new normal for the city’s paramedics, whose days can be mundane until — suddenly — they are not.’ It’s as if the media does not realize this is day to day responding to other people’s worst day.
Conquering COVID19: From classroom to emergency room
The two paramedics, Cheng and Mahoney, are instructors at FDNY Fort Totten (Queens) Station 60. Like 9-11 and Superstorm Sandy, the two have been called back to the streets to alleviate staffing responding to the numerous calls in New York.
Each day the two EMS Instructors with their colleagues gather for a moment of silence. The article recounts the updates on friends and co-workers who contracted COVID19. One comrade in fighting the ugly disease, Idris Bey, was named on Monday, but died by Friday, just four days later.
This pandemic is a reminder that the bravest are often forgotten in their fight against silent killers which are far less spectacular than gun fights or high rise fires.
Conquering COVID19: Protocols
The article also talks briefly about the bizarre symptomology of this disease which has confounded both medics and ER staff. Standard ACLS protocols do not seem to be as effective – and may be inapproppriate according to some researchers.
Hart Island, sometimes referred to as Hart’s Island, is located at the western end of Long Island Sound, in the Bronx Bourough of New York City. It measures almost a mile and is used as New York City’s Potter Field gravesite.
The remains of more than one million people are buried on Hart Island. Since the start of the 21st century, there are fewer than 1,500 burials a year. Burials on Hart Island include individuals who were not claimed by their families or did not have private funerals; the homeless and the indigent; and mass burials of disease victims.
Access to the island is restricted by the Department of Correction, which operates an infrequent ferryboat service and imposes strict visitation quotas. Burials are conducted by inmates from the Rikers Island jail. The Hart Island Project, a public charity founded by visual artist Melinda Hunt, has tried to improve access to the island and make burial records more easily available. Prior to 2019, several laws to transfer jurisdiction to the Parks Department had been proposed to ease public access to Hart Island.
In the linked article Steinmetz says, “To me, I start wondering if the word is out: ‘Hey, keep people out of Hart Island, because it makes us look bad.’”
While Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration claimed this is an issue of protecting privacy there are several holes in that story. First, the persons buried on Hart Island are unclaimed by family or friends. Second, there are no open caskets. The journalists are simply recording the numbers and size of trenches to correlate to COVID19 data which indicates a pandemic much worse than publicly stated.
On Wednesday plain clothes officers with New York Police Departmentseized a drone being flown by award winning photojournalist George Steinmetz. Steinmetz has spent four decades shooting news for National Geographic and The New York Times Magazine.
Hart Island History
The island’s first public use was as a military training ground in 1864. It has also been a Union Civil War prison camp, psychiatric institution, a tuberculosis sanatorium, and its current day use as a potter’s field[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column]
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