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In the Face of Disaster - Responding to Traumatic Events · Talking FACS

• 0:01
  Welcome to Talking Facts.
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  What you need to know about family food finance and fitness.
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  This nationally recognized award winning podcast is hosted by the University of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program.
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  Our educators share research knowledge with individuals,
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  families and communities to improve quality of life.
• 0:25
  Hello and welcome to Talking Facts.
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  What you need to know about family food finance and fitness.
• 0:31
  I am your host,
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  Mindy mcculley Extension Specialist for instructional support at the University of Kentucky.
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  When natural disaster strikes,
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  it not only impacts our own family but often entire neighborhoods or communities in the face of disaster.
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  A disaster preparedness and response program presented by Family and Consumer Sciences Extension at the University of Kentucky seeks to give families the resources they need to prepare for a natural disaster before it occurs and rebound in the aftermath.
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  My guest today is Doctor Paul Norred Extension Specialist for rural health and farm safety.
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  Welcome,
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  Paul.
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  Hi,
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  Mindy.
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  Thank you for having me today.
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  And our topic is recognizing signs and symptoms of trauma after natural disasters and other traumatic events,
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  discuss some of these signs of trauma that people might see immediately after an event occurs.
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  Yeah,
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  that's a,
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  that's a great intro mandy.
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  I appreciate it.
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  And so one of the things to remember with trauma is that is our body's ex uh experience to uh physically threatening or emotionally hurtful events.
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  And we experience powerful,
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  emotional and physical responses immediately after because it activates our survival system.
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  And just uh usually after the immediately after a traumatic event,
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  you know,
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  people may feel numb or they may feel,
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  feel like nothing's real.
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  Individuals may feel or get easily startled or scared.
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  A lot of times,
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  persons that I've worked with,
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  who've experienced trauma just from a motor vehicle accident,
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  from death of a spouse or a loved one or even from like a natural disaster that I've worked in Tennessee.
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  People have difficulty sleeping or have nightmares about the event.
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  Headache and fatigues are common as well.
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  Digestive problems can be really common,
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  like having an upset stomach.
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  And then the other big one is that,
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  you know,
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  people may feel like they're having problems focusing or even feel confused or unable to make decisions.
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  And so those are some immediate signs of a trauma and those usually occur,
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  you know,
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  within just,
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  just immediately after and typically within a three month period after the traumatic event as you were talking through.
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  Those,
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  I thought,
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  gosh,
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  those are some of the signs that I experienced as we dealt with the global pandemic.
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  You know,
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  I,
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  I had that trouble focusing and I and I had trouble sleeping and,
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  and,
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  you know,
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  it felt very traumatic to me as we didn't know how we were going to deal with it,
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  you know,
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  in,
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  in the early days.
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  So I,
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  I'm associating that very much uh with a traumatic event.
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  That's a good point,
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  mindy.
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  And so it's good to recognize that stress that's going on in your body.
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  And it's important to remember that trauma,
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  you know,
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  essentially induces stress.
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  And so our body survival system is active and that's what we want.
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  We're,
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  we're designed to survive and we wanna have our survival system a active.
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  But if we're unable to recognize the signs of trauma and stress,
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  then we're unable to cope with those signs and symptoms.
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  And a lot of times we can just keep re experiencing those painful emotions and stress and that's not always good for us.
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  And then,
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  you know,
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  long term,
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  you know,
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  through beyond three months of the event,
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  we can see some of those same things that you're articulating mindy with,
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  you know,
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  trouble sleeping,
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  trouble focusing fatigue.
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  But then there's a few other things,
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  people may have a worry or be fearful about future events,
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  like driving a car or a natural disaster or storms.
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  They may have some intense grief that last for weeks and months may feel.
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  I,
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  I don't know,
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  Mindy.
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  Have you ever felt irritable after you've been under a lot of stress?
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  Definitely.
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  Right.
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  You can feel,
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  feel irritable.
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  I think in one of our other podcasts,
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  we talk about problems making decisions when we felt stressed.
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  Right.
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  Right.
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  Exactly.
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  And so that's it.
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  But the other thing that really separates this mindy for us in terms of long term trauma versus stress is just uh avoiding places that bring back the painful memories and then recurrent thoughts about that painful memory and then just isolating ourselves.
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  Those are some distinguishable things that,
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  that differentiate uh traumatic events and stress from just normal daily stress and chronic stress,
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  you know,
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  trauma.
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  Just i it wipes out a piece of us,
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  right?
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  Things that we can't get back essentially,
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  you know,
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  as you're talking about,
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  um there's some things that we can do to cope with trauma too mindy and,
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  and,
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  you know,
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  immediately within that first three months or first few days,
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  you know,
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  it's important to prioritize our basic needs,
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  you know,
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  that's food safety,
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  water,
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  clothing and shelter,
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  that's basic needs,
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  right?
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  And then the other thing and this is,
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  this is one thing that we miss and we,
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  we may not consider and that's restoring your routine,
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  getting back some sense of normalcy after the event that could be anything from eating at the same time each day,
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  texting a friend,
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  meeting up with another parent or friend for,
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  for lunch,
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  you know,
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  on a Friday or whenever going to work,
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  right?
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  It does help restore a sense of routine.
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  That mean you may be productive at work,
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  but it's restoring that sense of routine,
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  right?
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  And then telling,
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  you know,
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  reaching out to friends and family,
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  telling them that you're struggling and you just need to talk or get a hug and then lastly just avoiding the use of alcohol and substances.
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  And,
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  you know,
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  if you feel like things aren't getting back to normal in your body and in your life,
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  you know,
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  it's important to reach out and uh text someone or call someone for,
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  for professional support.
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  That could be a pastor,
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  that could be a counselor,
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  physician,
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  nurse practice practitioner.
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  But again,
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  if you feel like things are lingering and you're not getting any better or they're getting worse,
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  it's important to reach out for professional help.
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  You can call or text 988 here in Kentucky to get access to those resources.
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  And I know call,
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  it might be important to listen to those people in your life who might recognize the signs that you are not recognizing because sometimes we fail to see that's that,
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  which is closest to us,
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  um which is our ourselves and someone who is outside of us might be able to see that sign or,
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  or recognize the sign that we,
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  we might need some help.
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  And so don't take it personally,
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  listen and recognize that they are caring for you as well.
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  You know,
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  that is such a great point.
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  And that makes me think about my time working in the uh,
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  cardiovascular IC U,
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  we'd have patients who would have,
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  uh,
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  come in and have a cardiac cath or go through and have a open heart surgery and they come out and be like,
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  I feel so much better.
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  I didn't know,
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  I didn't know what feeling good looked like until now.
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  It's because their heart was working the way it was supposed to again.
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  Right.
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  That's one where they need,
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  it's the same thing with trauma and stress.
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  As you mentioned,
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  a lot of times the people around us will recognize things and we just think we're going through a normal day,
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  but in reality,
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  we're just so used to the pain,
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  emotion and stress.
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  We don't really know what feeling better looks like or feels like.
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  And so yes,
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  it's important to listen to those trusted loved ones,
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  friends and confidants around us when they're saying something's going on.
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  Uh I'm noticing some changes,
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  Paul,
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  I think that this conversation is so important for everyone to listen to because we never know when traumatic events are gonna hit and how we are going to respond to them.
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  So if we are equipped with ideas about how to deal with them before they hit,
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  then we're gonna be in a better place.
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  I completely agree with you mindy in that,
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  you know,
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  if we understand and can recognize and uh get some tools to help us cope with trauma,
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  you know,
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  we can certainly better ourselves and then that can prepare us to be able to help the the others in our communities who may experience uh traumatic events as well.
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  Thank you for joining me today,
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  Paul.
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  Thank you so much for having me.
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  I appreciate it,
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  Mindy.
• 9:12
  You can always learn more by downloading the University of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension service publication series in the face of disaster which covers ways to prepare for an emergency and ways to recover if affected topics include finances,
• 9:31
  food and water considerations,
• 9:33
  ways to protect your family and home and how to take care of your mental health.
• 9:38
  After a traumatic event.
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