Post Traumatic Stress

There is a terrific amount of interest in the condition of post traumatic stress. I first heard of this condition as it related to soldiers under the command of the famous General Patton of the USA. He entered a hospital and declared the men there under doctors care because of battle fatigue were yellow and cowards, striking one in the face with his fist.He was reprimanded and battle fatigue became known as post traumatic stress.

Personally I encountered PTS while working in Nunavut as a coroner.Nunavut has few doctors and trusted citizens are appointed to perform this duty.I was one of those and served while I was there. The first few calls that I had were for accidents and two suicides.I dealt with these events well but suffered extreme stress not trained to deal with this aspect of the job. One morning when I had a special visitor to my home ,my daughter Lynda I was late for work as we had a breakfast in our own time.Suddenly I had a call over the radio phone that there was an accident near my home and to get there quickly.

The accident was only a block from my home and when I arrived I found out that a four year old child  was killed by a water truck which drove over the child when he slid under the back wheels. I assessed the event and wrote the facts and took pictures as I had to do and bag the body and take care of the scene. I met with the family and appeared to be OK.I decided to go home to write the report and as I entered the house I had a meltdown. This child was known to me and was a frequent visitor with his father to my home. Through tears I wrote the report and sent it off to Yellowknife as demanded. I straightened up and while Lynda was with me I was OK.

Two days later I suffered deep depression and sadness. It was a feeling I never experienced before because I lost control of my feelings. I received a call from the chief coroner in Yellowknife and after asking how I felt he had me on a plane to the hospital in Yellowknife.I received a debriefing and counselling from the lady specialist. I stayed there for three days and returned home to Ikaluktutiak. I was OK in the true sense. The help I received was all I needed.

The second time I suffered the same feeling was after failed surgery which gave me PTS because of a near death experience. I relate these stories so people will try to understand how readily our men and women in uniform could suffer PTS because of the experiences they endured. These are for the most part young people and it should demand that the government who put these people in harms way be responsible for their care and recovery. Their stress would be many times greater than I suffered so we should be accepting that they get the care they require. This condition has taken many lives of our military and it has to stop.