Mental health issues increasing as Sonoma County enters new phase of fires' aftermath
The Press DemocratNov 26, 2017
"She said to me, 'We know everyone is offering financial assistance and donating stuff, but what about mental health? How are you doing?' and I just started crying," she said.
Marquez, 56, lost her home on Fairway Knoll Court when the Tubbs fire raced up the northern slopes of Fountaingrove on
For more than a month, Marquez and her family have been dealing with the daunting logistics of recovery, federal aid forms, insurance claims and home reconstruction estimates. But now something else has settled into her life like a thick fog, caused by the overwhelming uncertainty of the future, the loss of control and the inescapable memories of that traumatic night and the days that followed.
"I'm normally a very positive person, usually in a good mood. It's just that I'm a little lost," Marquez said. "First I was saying, I'm taking it day by day, and now I'm just saying, I'm OK."
October's deadly wildfires have left an untold number of
Therapists and other mental health professionals are seeing an increasing number of people seeking help, and
They say the growing need for mental health services will require a communitywide response that goes hand in hand with any regional strategy for rebuilding decimated neighborhoods and businesses.
"It's been six weeks since the fires -- the impact on the community has been incredible and it's not going to just go away," said
Curran said the demand for mental health is on the rise in the past few weeks, with many patients exhibiting signs of enduring grief, depression, irritability, anger and sleep disturbance. The level of these symptoms depends "on the exposure they had to the immediacy of the fires," she said.
Curran and other mental health experts say that for those who lost a loved one or fled from visible flames that ultimately consumed their home, the mental health effects will be more profound.
For Marquez, the fires have left her feeling like a different person.
"It's an emotional roller coaster. I'm not a crier at all ... that's why I know I need help, because my mental health is not getting any better," she said.
Marquez, who lived with her husband and daughter about a mile and a half from the winery where she worked, was awakened the night of the firestorm by a phone call at about
Marquez, who along with her husband decided to drive by the winery, said she got dressed and went outside and saw smoke and ash, and could see cars speeding down
"I told my husband, 'I am not going to the winery, I'm getting the hell out of here,'?" she said, adding that the three left in separate cars and embarked on a frightening exodus she knows will haunt her for sometime.
She experienced flames and embers flying in the howling wind, trees and branches in roadways, the smell of heavy smoke and the fear of being burned alive in her car while stuck in traffic.
"My husband and I both feel like we don't have control over our lives," she said. "Your financial future, your home, everything has just kind of been stripped from us. It's hard to make decisions, because you don't feel like you're mentally healthy and you have to make very big decisions."
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Based on research following other natural disasters, the disillusionment phase is defined by a downward slope of emotions that experts say could last six months or longer, depending in large part on the amount of time it takes for the thousands directly affected by the fires to recover and rebuild.
"It's got to be a whole community response," said Kennedy, the county mental health director. "We're going to try to pull together all community members to all be involved."
Kennedy said that includes getting special disaster-related training for health and human services employees and reaching out to local therapists, insurance plans and community-based agencies.
Trauma experts
In a
The chart, which tracks emotional highs and lows, shows the period of disillusionment, with slight dips and rises caused by "trigger events," lasting all the way to the anniversary of the disaster. From then on it's an emotional climb toward the period of "reconstruction."
Van Leeuwen, who lives in
"The extent of the disaster here is causing a lot of upheaval in every aspect," said Van Leeuwen. She and nearly 100 therapists with the Redwood Empire chapter of the
"I would say we have a whole community that's grieving right now," said
Zane, a former family therapist, said both grief and trauma have physiological effects, such as headaches, panic attacks, diarrhea, stomachachescq, sweating, having chills or being easily startled.
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Losing a house in a violent firestorm can leave people feeling powerless, almost insignificant, compared to the raw, indiscriminate power of a natural disaster, Zane said.
"For my wife and I, we're really kind of feeling the reality that people not directly affected by the fire are moving on," said
Silvestro, a paramedic with Sonoma Life Support, and his wife, Schiffbauer, a
"The lows are lower now," Silvestro said. "Every day you remember something you don't have. Every day you realize you have lost everything ... there's not a day that goes by where what happened is not in my consciousness."
But Silvestro said he finds strength in his refusal to be a "victim" of the firestorm.
"Being a fire survivor gives us that motivation to keep moving," he said. "We're at the bottom of a hill. We have to get to the top; there really is no other option."
Widespread disasters like the fires call for population-level health strategies, said Dr.
The project involved combining "fire maps" with home address data from WCHC's patient database. Cunningham said the mapping identified some 700 active patients who had been seen within the last 18 months by a primary care provider at one of WCHC's health centers.
"People are settling into reality," Cunningham said. "We're seeing a lot of stress, worsening depression, anxiety ... It's no longer, you're running away from a fire, it's what's this going to mean for my family and children going forward."
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Gray, who fled her doomed home on
Awakened by the persistent barking of her dog at
"Embers were flying on top of us as we were getting into our vehicles," Gray said, adding that flames had already come up on their porch when they left. "We knew we were losing that house as we drove away."
They headed toward a friend's house in
"We saw
In her Facebook post, Gray describes recently smelling fireplace smoke for the first time since that night.
"This was very strong since it was so close," she wrote. "The hair went up on the back of my neck from the smell and I couldn't get back in the house quick enough. I started dry-heaving and then sobbing."
Gray said she shared her story because she hopes it will help others who are feeling the same way. She said that as her life is getting back to normal -- "not having to go to
"I'm starting to do laundry, a normal life is taking over, you have time to reflect and see what's going on," she said. "That's why a lot of people are like, 'Oh, well I really need to get help.'?"
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