The unthinkable happened just before Thanksgiving.
The unthinkable happened just before Thanksgiving.
A flash fire devasted a Middlefield home and its family with a heart-breaking loss of their 2-year-old.
However, in pain and grief came help and hope with first responders and the Geauga County Local Outreach Supporting Survivors Team.
“This is a team that is available 24/7 to help our residents of Geauga as they face events that cause emotional pain,” said Geauga County Sheriff Scott Hildenbrand. “We need to help people when they need it most. The LOSS Team was a great help to the safety forces at the recent loss of life at the horrific fire in Middlefield the day before Thanksgiving.”
The LOSS Team offers immediate on-scene support in partnership with the Geauga County Sheriff’s Office, county coroner and victim’s advocate office.
The team brings resources to individuals impacted by a traumatic event or loss, and links them to community services, support groups and therapists who specialize in working with traumatic loss survivors.
“We never know when we are needed, but we are always ready to respond,” said Tracy Jordan, Geauga County LOSS Team director and Geauga County Sheriff’s Office victim advocate. “The weeks and days counting up to the holidays are the busiest, although warm weather months see more activity as well.”
The LOSS Team members are not sworn law enforcement, but volunteers whose sole purpose is to attend to the needs of trauma survivors in times of crisis. The team is an expansion of a national model founded in 1997 to reduce maladaptive coping and increased suicide risk in survivors, specifically of suicide loss.
In Ohio, there are 24 counties with teams.
Jordan is the only victim advocate in Geauga County providing 24-hour on-scene service.
She believed more victims and families could be helped with the group.
“If I could train people to be my back-ups, we could go on more scenes and help more people,” Jordan said. “Sometimes, I could not respond as I was already on a case or I was unavailable and I would think about the victims I could not be there for. I had to come up with something, so I met with Ravenwood (Mental Health Center) in 2015 and we talked about forming a LOSS Team.”
The team does not only consist of mental health workers, but any person who wants to volunteer who has the heart to help with people in crisis.
To become a member of the Geauga LOSS Team, a person needs to complete an application, background check and attend training, which is about four hours long. He or she will then interview with LOSS Team Coordinator Elise Aitken, of Ravenwood, and Jordan.
“Why do we personally do what we do? I have talked to several members who all have different opinions,” Aitken said. “I didn’t have anyone when I went through something horrible and I don’t ever want anyone else to go through that alone.”
For Aitken, it’s her way of helping make the world a better place instead of just griping or wishing something could be better.
“If I can help empower people that have been made powerless by circumstances, then I have helped take a stand against the hopelessness which leads to despair,” Aitken said. “What gives me encouragement is that alcoholism, domestic violence, sex abuse and LGBTQ were all off limits for open discussion even 20 years ago, and the fact that now we discuss these issues openly is a change for the better. I am hoping as our society continues to evolve, mental illness becomes more recognized. The fact that many in positions of influence have chosen to speak out only serves to assist the change.”
Members are taught about what to expect on scene with victims, grief versus traumatic grief, how to work with first responders and about death notification.
The LOSS Team calls include responses to suicides, sexual assaults, house fires, car accidents, assaults, missing children and overdose deaths.
Volunteers in training do ride-alongs with a Geauga County deputy and watch court proceedings to learn what happens to a person arrested for a crime.
“Seeing firsthand what happens on scene and then what to expect in court the next day when someone appears before a judge is important,” Jordan said.
Monthly LOSS Team meetings are held, where training, debriefing and support is offered to each volunteer. Additional training includes psychological first aid, risk assessment, self-care, death notification and more.
“Sometimes we respond to a residence or hospital, but often we are on scene with the coroner and law enforcement assisting the survivors, families and witnesses,” Jordan said. “We’ve also been called to assist with first responders who themselves have been impacted by overwhelming crisis.”
No call out is the same. Team members need to be prepared to expect the unexpected on scene.
“I have received thank you cards from families,” Jordan said. “That is when I realize my job is the most important service our agency can provide at that time. This is a moment in their lives they will never forget. To have someone there to help them and assist them in moving to the next step. To have someone to talk to and someone who really cares.”
Jordan stays in contact with families. The Ott family, whose son, Dan, was killed in 2006 in Burton, still contact Jordan and make an annual donation in their son’s name.
This helps the Geauga County LOSS Team provide trauma bags for victims.
“We are committed to helping the victims of violent events. We need to help them through these trying times as long as we have the resources to help,” Hildenbrand said.
Jordan said she is so proud of her team.
“I never thought I could trust anyone to take care of my victims. but I have learned leadership is not about being the best,” Jordan said. ”Leadership is about making everyone else better. This is why I make sure my volunteers and the team is always doing well.”
She added, “In October, I had a horrific injury to my legs and cannot work. My team came together and have been providing services to the community of Geauga County in my absence. I could not be more proud of the team and the services they provide.”
LOSS Team member Ryan McGinnis said he always found satisfaction out of helping people.
“I have my own personal experiences to draw upon in certain situations, such as having lost several people to suicide through my life,” McGinnis said. “My grandfather’s death was a rather sudden one to experience. As well as self blame for many things in my life. So I understand when people tell themselves ‘If only I had’ or something of that nature.”
Christine Fuhry, Geauga County Sheriff’s Office part-time records clerk, is currently in LOSS training.
“I decided to volunteer as a way of giving back,” Fuhry said. “I have been through my own traumatic events in life in several forms and often wish I would have known of resources available to help me make my way through the tough times. I feel if someone would have been there to point me in the right direction, or to say, ‘Hey it’s OK, what you are feeling is normal,’ it would have been easier for me to process and move forward, and see that there is an end to the dark tunnel.”
Fuhry said she hopes people learn about the LOSS Team and open up discussions that may not normally take place.
“Because each discussion can make a huge difference in someone’s mindset and thought process,” she said. “A conversation can be the difference in a life.”
