Orlando Southwest - Issue #1 (March 2019)

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OFM_Dept_Society_First_Responders_0319_FINAL_DEPT 2 / 22 / 19 5 : 13 PM Page 5 to get over your fear of German shepherds that way . “ In virtual reality what we do is we recreate the about their experience . He also hopes they will help … We have to recreate what happened and by person’s traumatic event , so the sights , the sounds , the the community understand how they can assist doing that we can more closely treat people cor - smells and any kind of physical sensation such as those in need of help . rectly , and there’s a higher likelihood that they will rocking after a bomb explodes , ” says Deborah Beidel , “ We assume this is [ the first responders ’ ] job benefit from the training . founder and executive director of UCF Restores . and so it won’t affect them , but sometimes it does “ I think it’s important for people to understand “ We have this system that we had purchased that we and when it does , I think we have to be able to that more first responders commit suicide every use called Bravemind . The problem is that there respond to that , ” Wyche says . “ By doing these kinds year than die in the hands of a felon or die in the aren’t any scenes in there that are appropriate for first of trainings it not only allows an ongoing training line of duty , ” she adds . “ Unlike veterans there’s no responders , so we don’t have car accidents , we don’t to be founded in the agencies , but it gives people the VA for first responders , so we need to have people have burning buildings , we don’t have anything that understanding of how to recognize stress in them - who are trained and understand the first responder occurred in some of these mass shootings . ” selves . Not only that , it allows them to recognize culture and be able to provide services to them that With funding , UCF Restores will be building a stress in others , so when their peers aren’t doing well , are desperately needed . ” virtual reality tool that will be able to match the it’s an opportunity to reach out and once that starts trauma through scenes being the norm , I think you have a healthier work - and environments that force in any first responder agencies . ” closely reflect what the person went through . “ The most effec - n organization , which got its start tive therapy is the closer ain 2011 , was given another portion of the you can get to the ini - AEAP grant . UCF Restores was originally geared tial traumatic event , the toward treating veterans and active duty military more successful the with PSTD , but has expanded to treating first therapy will be , ” Beidel responders and survivors of mass shootings . The says . “ For example , if organization is the first in the nation to provide you are afraid of an intensive outpatient treatment program while German shepherds , bringing together multiple disciplines including and the only dog I ask exposure therapy and group therapy . you to be around is a The AEAP grant will be used for UCF Restores ’ little French poodle , new VR system technology , which will recreate UCF RESTORES you’re really not going scenes for those with PTSD . 18 ORLANDO FAMILY march 2019 ORLANDOFAMILYMAGAZINE.COM

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OFM_Dept_Society_First_Responders_0319_DEPT 2 / 22 / 19 2 : 03 PM Page 4 rlando police officer Gerry Realin was called to the scene and spent o nearly 17 hours at Pulse . For over five of those hours , he was inside the nightclub . After struggling with the reality of what he witnessed , Realin was diagnosed with PTSD and since then he and his wife Jessica have been at the forefront of new legislation to provide workers ’ compensation benefits for first responders with similar diagnoses . Back in 2007 , the legislature extended med - ical coverage under workers ’ compensation to first responders ( firefighters , law enforcement officers , EMTs and paramedics ) with PTSD . They weren’t eligible to receive lost wage benefits , but were able to receive coverage on medical bills . Although each state has very individualistic workers ’ compensation benefits for first responders with PTSD , Florida and Washington passed a bill in 2018 allowing workers to receive lost wage benefits along with medical coverage . The bill began with Jessica and Gerry Realin in August of 2016 . Jessica was able to connect with a senator who promised to enact the bill if elected , and although it wasn’t passed the first time filed , the second filing passed . Florida passed the legislation last October , however the state drew a clear line as to how first responders can receive these benefits . The statute says that the individual must be diagnosed with PTSD by an authorized psychiatrist and that there needs to be a specific triggering occurrence . The diagnosis also needs to be made within a year of the traumatic event . “ Our family continues to support Gerry as he works daily on his treatment for his injury ( PTSD ) . Letting him know it’s OK not to be OK and love him unconditionally , ” Jessica Realin says . “ I think as a society if we can get to a point that we realize that our first responders are everyday people that are there for us on our worst day and still answer the call no matter what , we then can say , ‘ Wow they are not heroes but someone’s son , daughter , father / mother , sister / brother , best friend . ’ Then we can accept that they are just as much affected by the atrocities of this world . ” “ I think the only other thing that I think has probably helped at least [ Orange ] County is the fact that we’ve always had a pretty robust counseling program with fire rescue , ” says John Petrelli , director of risk management and pro - fessional standards for Orange County Office of the Ombudsman . “ Whenever they have some sort of a significant incident whether it be a really bad auto accident , whether it be a situa - tion where you have a Pulse - type situation , they actually will bring in counselors for staff and I think that helps address that very , very initially and early on and probably helps from the standpoint on the back end of things so that we don’t have people that are nine , 10 , 11 months down the road starting to all of a sudden have these issues . ” ORLANDOFAMILYMAGAZINE.COM september 2018 ORLANDO FAMILY xx ORLANDOFAMILYMAGAZINE.COM march 2019 ORLANDO FAMILY 19

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