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HERALD $1.00
Village Winterfest spreads cheer
English teacher publishes book
Walmart fire forces evacuation
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Vol. 32 No. 50
DECEMBER 9 - 15, 2021
Police union turns a page Valley Stream native elected president of Nassau PBA matic stress disorder and anxiety, and sometimes take their own lives. Valley Stream native Tommy Now, as the PBA president, he Shevlin will take the reins from must help pull his fellow officers James McDermott as the new out of an altogether different acting president of the Nassau kind of crisis. Shevlin will County Police Benevolent Asso- inherit a divided police union, ciation Jan. 1. Shevwh o s e d i s a g r e e lin, 45, a state-certiments spilled out fied counselor, is publicly over confighting the stigma tract negotiations of mental health and last December. Dean the culture of Losquadro, second silence surrounding vice president under trauma and mental McDermott, led the illness among his felopposition and shot low officers. down passage of a Shevlin is now a new PBA contract counselor at the Nasne gotiated by sau County Police McDer mott and Department’s County Executive E m p l oye e A s s i s Laura Curran. tance Office, which ToMMY The plan, if it had provides counseling passed, would have shEVliN and other mental provided members health services to PBA president-elect with a 15 percent officers. Years back, pay raise over 8 ½ when Shevlin was a patrolman, years, but would have mandated he had found himself at the officers to work five additional office as a client for alcohol shifts a year and make them conaddiction recovery. tribute to their health care insur“I realize that as a union, ance, irrespective of their time you’re trained to save people’s of hiring. jobs, but we’re not trained to “They didn’t put enough time save their lives,” said Shevlin, and effort into taking care of who has seen his friends and colleagues suffer from post-trauContinued on page 14
By JuaN lasso jlasso@liherald.com
i
Karina Kovac/Herald
JaiDEN aND EliJah were taught CPR by Kendra Hoepper, director of Long Island University’s undergraduate nursing program.
Schools tackle mental health Central Wellness Centers help students cope By KaRiNa KoVaC kkovac@liherald.com
Central District Superintendent Dr. Wayne Loper said in September that the high school district would launch Wellness Centers at each of its four schools, staffed by psychologists, social workers and school counselors, to help students cope with the outsized toll that the coronavirus pandemic has taken on their mental health. The Memorial Junior High School Wellness Center
recently hosted a mentalhealth event with Molloy College focused on techniques to reduce stress, as well as cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Chanei Patterson, a Memorial psychologist, said there has been a “severe mental health emergency among our students and students nationwide... It’s really helpful for their socialization skills because students have been out of school for a long time.” According to a recent C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital
national poll, 46 percent of parents reported that their teens showed signs of a new or worsening mental health condition since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. Among the purposes of the life skills workshop, Paterson said, was to give students an “opportunity to learn how to incorporate their mental health in a way that’s not stigmatizing.” Students learned to use music therapy as a coping skill, she said. Students Continued on page 4
realize that as a union, you’re trained to save people’s jobs, but we’re not trained to save their lives.