DMH Members Respond to Recent LA County Tragedies
A commuter train slams head-on into a freight engine. A fire forces thousands of LA County residents to flee their homes. SEIU 721 mental health team members provided key support to victims and their families in the wake of these disasters last year.
Fire Evacuations Hit Home
Chantall Gil, RN II at Hillview Intensive Residential facility in Pacoima, deployed to a temporary shelter on Oct. 14 to aid refugees from two fires that devoured homes in the San Fernando Valley and left two people dead. “We provide support for evacuees — playing with people’s children, helping them get a plate of food. Regardless of our title we’re there to provide assistance,” she said.
The fire touched Gil personally: Family members in the fire’s path had been forced to evacuate, and just 24 hours earlier the Marek fire had marched to within a block of her Pacoima facility before fire crews stopped it. Gil was on standby to help evacuate the critically mentally ill and homeless clients she serves.
“That just made the situation a little more stressful,” she said. “Obviously we dropped what we need to do and we went. It’s all about prioritizing. None of the clients we work with here were in danger.”
“In a situation like that, you have to have teamwork, not only with my own co-workers in mental health but in the evacuation center.”
Deploying After Deadly Train Wreck
A few weeks earlier Department of Mental Health employees were on call after the Metrolink train disaster killed 25 people in Chatsworth. Hallie Carter, a medical case worker with the Antelope Valley mobile crisis team, was one of the mobilized members. “There could be schools or churches or anyone in the community that is affected by the train wreck — the crisis team will respond,” she said.
“Sometimes it’s hard to prepare yourself” for a tragedy involving death and grieving families, she said. “But it’s your job, and you know how to deal with it, and you are able to give the people the empathy that is needed. You are able to get a feel for what people need and listen to them.”
For Faye Quintal-Discipu, a medical case worker at Metropolitan State Hospital 45 miles away from the crash site in Norwalk, that meant taking calls from concerned community members and family — including an Arizona man whose family was supposed to be on the train. She was able to help connect him to emergency responders.
“It’s a great feeling that as a community we come together in crisis,” she said.
Responding to a Crisis: The Role of SEIU 721 Mental Health Team Members
Emergency response: In a disaster, Department of Mental Health employees are on call and in need. Medical case workers, RNs, and clinicians make up mobile response teams that include law enforcement and paramedics. They deploy to emergency shelters and disaster sites to assess the mental health needs of community members and handle acute suffering.
Continuing Care: After the worst is over, DMH employees provide long-term services, such as counseling grieving families. Disasters can be especially stressful for people already struggling with mental illness, and DMH staff help connect them with SSI, general relief, and other services.
“We provide support for evacuees — playing with people’s children, helping them get a plate of food. Regardless of our title we’re there to provide assistance.”
Chantall Gil, RN, Hillview Intensive Residential Facility. She responded to the San Fernando Valley fires in October 2008
“There could be schools or churches or anyone in the community that is affected by the train wreck — the crisis team will respond.”
Hallie Carter, Medical Case Worker, Antelope Valley. She was on duty during the Metrolink train crash in September 2008 that killed 25 people.
Fire evacuees at San Fernando High School, where DMH members provided counseling (Los Angeles Times).
The Metrolink crash site in September 2008 (Los Angeles Times).