Post-Traumatic Stress: It's ok to be feeling that way
For most sitting on the beach taking in the beauty of the ocean there is no place more serene, however for those who keep us safe on our beaches the ocean is anything but.
By Sarah Homewood
F
or lifeguards and their supervisors keeping people safe from the ocean is their responsibility but the ocean that they enter everyday can hold many memories of those who they weren’t able to save.
Carl Vanzino who's been a lifeguard for 25 years and a supervisor for the last eight has seen his fair share of the dangers of the ocean and at times struggles to forget it. “I’ve been a lifeguard for 25 years now, so I’ve gone from giving basic first aid up to resuscitations and then to heart attacks and such, we’ve also had a couple of suicides off the rocks here and a car over turned and a boats over turned,” he said.
Experiencing such losses are not uncommon in lifeguarding, however, such events can stick with lifeguards for life. “For me personally you don’t forget those things, you know their faces and the whole outcomes, you do go home and think did I do the right thing? Did I do what I had been shown to do? “Half the time the processes you go through just go out the window especially with resuscitations, you really just do what you can,” Mr Vanzino explained.
Experiencing losses are not uncommon in lifeguarding however such events can stick with lifeguards for life.
“One particular incident that comes to mind was probably 12 years ago, a boat overturned off the Merries Reef here, some South Africans were on board and another boat went to assist but that boat also overturned and an eight-yearold boy drowned, his father and uncle also drowned.”
One reason Mr Vanzino has such a vivid memory of the boat accident is that he was one of the first to arrive at the scene that day.
“The boat that had over turned, I remember it because I was in the water for such a long time waiting for back up, I had two people on my board, the older gentlemen was already deceased and he was floating in the water next to me, those things you always think about,” he said.
ABOUT PTSD: What is PTSD? Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a particular set of reactions that can develop in people who have been through a traumatic event. That is, they have experienced or witnessed an event that threatened their life or safety, or that of others around them, and led to feelings of intense fear, helplessness or horror. What are the signs and symptoms of PTSD? People with PTSD often experience feelings of panic or extreme fear, similar to the fear they felt during the traumatic event. A person with PTSD experiences four main types of difficulties.
eliving the traumatic event – The person R relives the event through unwanted and recurring memories, often in the form of vivid images and
nightmares. There may be intense emotional or physical reactions, such as sweating, heart palpitations or panic when reminded of the event. eing overly alert or wound up – The person B experiences sleeping difficulties, irritability and lack of concentration, becoming easily startled and constantly on the lookout for signs of danger. voiding reminders of the event – The person A deliberately avoids activities, places, people, thoughts or feelings associated with the event because they bring back painful memories. eeling emotionally numb – The person loses F interest in day-to-day activities, feels cut off and detached from friends and family, or feels emotionally flat and numb. Source: beyondblue