WATCH ABOVE: Mark Carcasole talks to first responders about how they deal with traumatic events.
TORONTO – The tragic death of three-year-old Elijah, who was found freezing in a snowbank near his grandmother’s home on Neptune Drive Thursday, is an example of the traumatic experiences first responders face.
The police officers and paramedics who loaded the badly injured boy into a waiting ambulance were seen crying, a witness told Global News shortly after Elijah was found Thursday.
Mike McCormack, the president of the Toronto Police Association, said the officers involved are recovering and have been debriefed.
But they’re obviously shaken.
“It’s the most challenging, the most difficult, the most stressful in any police officer’s career and you know what, we see a lot of horrific things, we see a lot of terrible things,” he said in an interview Friday.
“I can tell you from personal experience, the worst thing, the worst day a police officer ever has is when you’re dealing with a child or an infant that has lost their life.”
Toronto Police Officers have access to employee assistance programs and clinical psychologists offered through the union and service. They are also given multiple debriefing sessions immediately following the event and in the following week.
WATCH: Support floods in after little Elijah dies in hospital
READ MORE: Is there enough mental health support for first responders?
First responders – police officers, paramedics, correction officers, firefighters – in Canada do experience a higher rate of PTSD, according to Dr. Jeff Morley, a clinical psychologist and 23-year veteran of the RCMP. He told Global News in July that PTSD among first responders can be up to four times higher than the average population.
He said the higher rate can be partly blamed on the sheer number of traumatic events they see over a career.
READ MORE: How to get help if you or someone you know has PTSD
Geoff MacBride, the president of the Toronto Paramedics Association, said paramedics in the city also have access to an employee assistance program, and psychologists. But, he said, their most important resource is their colleagues.
“It’s not every day that we get to see the best part of humanity and we know how to help ourselves and the first step is dealing with each other,” he said. “Talking to your colleagues, talking to your partner, they’re the only ones that have had that experience; they are the only ones that can relate.”
He echoed McCormack saying seeing a child die is one of the hardest things a paramedic has to deal with.
“We seem to see it as more unfair, we seem to see it as something that shouldn’t happen and certainly with an outcome such as yesterday, it seems to very, very much affect us,” he said.
“It’s very challenging. As a paramedic on the road myself, I’ve dealt with calls of that nature. It’s very, very difficult to deal with. It’s something you take home with you; it’s something that hits you personally, particularly for folks that have a family.”
A crowdfunding effort has been launched to help Elijah’s family pay for the funeral costs. As of 2:00 p.m. Friday, it has raised more than $100,000 with an initial goal of $20,000.
– With files from Mark Carcasole
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