Contact: John Hampton, Chief, Bureau of Communications Dept.of Technology and Communication, (410) 313-2303 or Donald Howell, International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, (410) 750-9600
Disasters large and small, sometimes create a need to rescue a rescuer. Calls from all over the United States and abroad come into the Howard County Government 911 Center in Ellicott City, Maryland with this request, placed by rescue agencies looking for help in dealing with the actuality or the aftermath of fires, floods, shootings or other disasters.
In addition to their other responsibilities, county dispatchers have answered this emergency hotline established by The International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF), a nonprofit organization. The hotline operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, providing team names and contact phone numbers to agencies and individuals in need of help in their geographical areas. There are more than now 400 teams in place, trained by the ICISF.
The efforts of Howard County dispatchers in responding to the hotline were highlighted in a brief ceremony on Thursday, January 29, 1998 at 10 a.m. in the 911 Center, when County Executive Charles I. Ecker welcomed Dr. Jeffrey T. Mitchell, President and co-founder of ICISF. Dr. Mitchell presented an award in appreciation of seven years dedication in handling more than 2,000 calls which have come into the local 911 Center from around the world.
According to County Executive Charles I. Ecker, "I appreciated seeing our 911 Center recognized. These workers have helped out with critical incidents around the world, with little fanfare, quietly doing their jobs."
Agencies whose personnel are dealing with the physical, cognitive, emotional or behavioral effects of responding to disasters are matched to debriefing teams in their areas. Teams exist in all fifty states, in Guam and in 16 foreign nations. The organization has also trained members of airlines and auto associations and professional agencies which respond to disasters.
Incident calls have ranged from the Oklahoma City bombing to individual crises to such as helping a lone rescue worker from a tornado-torn area to balance his conflict between responding to his own family and assisting at work in a cleanup of massive destruction.
There are no easy answers, according to ICISF, which has developed conferences, programs, activities, courses, research and training to respond to the need of rescue workers to deal with their vocations in a healthy manner.
Established by Drs. Mitchell and George Everly, Jr. in 1989, ICISF is a nonprofit foundation with a variety of member services. ICISF developed the hotline and training, which was installed in Howard County s Bureau of Communications with the cooperation of the Howard County Government.
Disasters in which rescue workers were assisted by ICISF services include the 1989 San Francisco Earthquake, the New York City World Trade Center fire bombing, Hurricane Hugo in South Carolina and the Persian Gulf Desert Storm Campaign, all in 1990, Hurricane Andrew and Hurricane Iniki, and the Los Angeles civil riots, all in 1992, the Yugoslavian Civil War of 1993, the mass slayings in Rwanda in 1994, the Kobe, Japan Earthquake in 1995, TWA Flight 800 in 1996 and the Kentucky flooding in 1997.
The ICISF is an open membership foundation with more than 3,000 members dedicated to stress prevention, education and support services for all emergency services professions. According to its mission statement, ICISF maintains a world-wide leadership role (special consultative status to the United Nations in 1997) in developing and disseminating crisis intervention, stress education and stress recovery programs by those affected by work related stress, disasters and other traumatic events.