Emotional Toll Of Maui Fire Coming Into Sharper Focus
Maui's chief mental health administrator John Oliver is calling the Hawaiian blaze "the worst mental health disaster in our state's modern history." Special emphasis is being placed on school intervention as students begin to go back to class. Meanwhile, forensic specialists continue the grim task of identifying the victims.
NPR:
Maui Wildfires Have A Huge Mental Health Toll
Survivors are still dealing with physical challenges like where they'll be living in the coming weeks and months. But size of the emotional and psychological toll here is coming into sharper focus as the need for mental health support is growing. Mental health administrator Oliver calls it "the worst mental health disaster in our state's modern history." (Westervelt, 8/21)
The Washington Post:
Maui Fire Survivors Face Trauma And Cognitive Woes Dubbed ‘Fire Brain’
The harmful effects of wildfire exposure don’t disappear once the flames are extinguished, experts said. There is growing research that suggests breathing in the tiny particles from wildfire smoke can produce cognitive deficits, which may appear in as little as six to 12 months or even years later. Surviving a near-death experience also raises the risk of post-traumatic stress, with such symptoms as depression, sleep disorders, anxiety and survivor’s guilt, researchers said. (Cimons and Bellware, 8/20)
Reuters:
Maui Children Face Grief, Destruction As Schools Start Up After Wildfire
Before wildfire ravaged the Hawaiian community of Lahaina last week, high school teacher Mike Landes was always the guy arguing that academics come first - before worries about the social and emotional development of the students. But as parents, teachers and students begin trickling back to school after wildfires ravaged the community in the western part of Hawaii's island of Maui, mental health, he now insists, must take priority. (Bernstein, 8/19)
NPR:
'Give Yourself Grace': Camp Fire Survivors Offer Advice To People In Maui
What do you do after wildfires have destroyed your home, your community and the life you knew? ... For some, the events unfolding in Maui serve as a painful reminder of what they went through and the lessons they learned. That's especially true for survivors of the 2018 Camp Fire, which killed 85 people and virtually destroyed the California towns of Paradise and Concow. (Treisman and Rao, 8/18)
Also —
Reuters:
The Doctors, Dentists And Anthropologists Striving To Identify Maui's Victims
Inside a temporary morgue near the Maui County coroner's office, a team of specialists – including forensic pathologists, X-ray technicians, fingerprint experts and forensic dentists – labor 12 hours a day to identify the charred remains of the victims of this month's cataclysmic wildfire. They are members of the federal Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team program, or DMORT, deployed when a mass fatality incident overwhelms local authorities. (Ax, 8/20)
