Communicating with Care

Memorial Day weekend is right around the corner!  This Holiday traditionally signifies the official kick off of boating season as well as the start for increased recreational water activities overall.   This is an exciting time where we anticipate spending weekends, holidays, and vacation time gathering with our friends and families.  It is a time to enjoy and appreciate the outdoors and all of the natural resources that our many State Parks and Public Lands have to offer.  Whether it’s boating, fishing, camping, swimming, relaxing on the beach etc., there is something for everyone to partake in as we embark on this season.  As we prepare for this time, First Responders are faced with the harsh reality that along with all of the adventures to come, there's the unfortunate downside of accidents and critical incidents that can result in injury, trauma and tragedy. 

Providing compassionate guidance is always important but when there is a critical incident such as a severely injured person, a drowning, or a boating accident with missing person(s) in the water etc., it is especially essential to communicate with care to the victim family and friends of the victim during a time when they need it the most.  Research actually suggests that people want to know you care before they care about what you know.  We don’t hear the term Verbal First Aid often, but it is an effective tool and resource.   It is the notion that words can be healing like medicine so to speak,  and suggests that what you say is just as important as what you do, especially in times of crisis.

Verbal First Aid is built on two fundamental principles, rapport and suggestion.  When people are scared, they look for an authority to tell them what to do.  In order to lead someone in a time of crisis, trust, believability, and compassion are crucial.  We build trust by listening, caring and having empathy.   Validating how people feel by paraphrasing what you hear them say and reassuring them also speaks to believability.   People typically decide how much they trust you within the first 9-30 seconds of an interaction.   When we have a rapport, our words, our intentions and our presence can help lead to healing, emotionally and physically. 

When communicating with victims and their families in times of crisis sometimes you must acknowledge the truth of what has happened but it is necessary to change and shift the focus as well.  This is where suggestion comes in.  For a severely injured person, this can be lifesaving, as shifting their focus can literally change their demeanor which directly affects the state and condition of their health at that time.  For example, If someone has lost a limb in an accident and they ask about that injury specifically, acknowledge that that part of them is injured but then one may shift the focus to the rest of their body as to not put the victim in more danger by having them react adversely, i.e raised heart rate, breathing erratically etc..).   Technical ability is crucial for First Responders, but having good verbal skills is so very important as well.  Words can mean the difference between pain and comfort, panic and clam, and even life and death.

When people are in a state of fear, panic, shock or crisis, they can be in an altered state of consciousness, sometimes trance like.  While in this state the autonomic nervous system (ANS) is open to suggestion.  The ANS controls functions like breathing, bleeding and pulse and heart rate, so every word spoken to victims while in that state can be compared to a hypnotic suggestion, this can be used for good, or sometimes it can go wrong as well.  Words that may seem immaterial to us can become fixed in the victims mind.

The psychological effect of verbal communication with an injured individual or a distressed family member should never be underestimated.  Most trauma survivors remember the verbal communication they received from First Responders and speak on how it helped them cope with that trauma during that time.   Waves of Hope is an inspiring organization of forever changed families impacted by boating and open water tragedies.  They turn tragedy into prevention by sharing their stories to educate others about boating and water safety so their stories don’t become another family’s story.  Above is a list of 30 helpful things say provided by the organization.  It was compiled specifically for First Responders by families of water tragedies.  For more information on Waves of Hope and some of the resources they provide, please visit their website wavesofhopeboating.org

References

[1] "The 20/10/30 List"; http://wavesofhopeboating.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/waves-of-hope-20-10-30-list.pdf

[2] "First Responder Communication

Strategies"; https://www.phe.gov/Preparedness/planning/abc/Pages/crisis-factsheet.aspx

[3] "Verbal First Aid:  What You Say Can Be As Important As What You Do:  Part 1" by Judith Simon Prager, PhD, https://www.emsworld.com/article/10318900/verbal-first-aid-what-you-say-can-be-important-what-you-do-part-1

[4] "Verbal First Aid:  Words as Medicine" by Judith Acosta, LISW, CCH; https://www.huffpost.com/entry/words-are-medicine_n_677444

Blog post by Shakira Johnson of the DNR CISM Team.