More than two years after the Waukesha Christmas Parade tragedy, a place that helps people deal with the mental trauma from what they experienced is now seeing more new people come in than ever.
The United for Waukesha Resiliency Center says that is in line with a national trend, which is why they held an event today specifically aimed at helping first responders.
“I was at the parade with my kids,” said Sherry Berg, an emergency room nurse. That day she went from enjoying the parade to working on the victims.
“It is still hard,” said Sherry. “My kids were ok, my family was ok. But me as a nurse, you think you are invincible, that you can do everything and you realize you witness something traumatic and it changes you forever.”
Jackie Gotzler is also an ER nurse. She was called into the hospital to help the next morning. She says when she got to work people were still coming in injured.
“We were trying to recover from everyone who saw, (and) what they saw,” said Jackie.
But the injuries the United for Waukesha Resiliency Center is trying to help the community cope with are the ones we can't see: the mental ones. Today, it hosted an event allowing first responders and their families to come together, listen to speakers, and share time and space with each other. A federal grant helps create resiliency centers across the country after major traumatic events like mass shootings or the parade tragedy.
"This is something we see with resiliency centers. It is about 18 months to 2 years later that people are now starting to reach out for services. More than they were initially,” said Allison McGaver, outreach director.
McGaver says more than 500 first responders from 80 departments responded to the parade. She says a fraction of those people have come to Waukesha’s Resiliency Center for help. She knows there are many more people like Jackie and Sherry who could be helped by the free services.
"I think I always thought I didn't need to. I'm a tough ER nurse. It's just the job. We do what do what we do,” said Sherry.
“We kind of put everything in the backburner, but now it has kind of come to the forefront that if you don't take care of yourself then you aren't going to be there to take care of other people,” said Jackie.
The Resiliency Center has ongoing free programming for anyone affected by the Waukesha Parade Tragedy including first responders and their family members.
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