Fort Dodge women provide mental health support to Parkersburg tornado victims

By KARA KOCZUR, Globe staff reporter
June 26, 2008

Uprooted trees, piles of rubble and open foundations were some of the things employees from Catholic Social Services in Fort Dodge saw when they arrived in Parkersburg one week after a deadly tornado ripped through the town.

"Instead of broken houses there were just piles of broken lumber and trees," said Deanne Archer, one of the therapists. "Nothing was recognizable as anything in the areas that were the worst."

Archer and two co-workers were in Parkersburg June 1 offering mental health support to those affected by the May 25 tornado that killed 7 people. They worked from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with the Red Cross speaking with adults, children and volunteers who were either in the feeding tent or distribution tent, where people could get rakes, shovels and other supplies.

"We basically just offered our support, our encouragement and our time to anyone who felt the need to talk," said Susan Rohden, a social worker therapist who also made the trip to Parkersburg. Rohden is the branch director of the Fort Dodge Catholic Charities office.

It gave those affected the chance to talk to someone who wasn't going through the same thing and to allow someone else to carry their emotional burden for a little while, Archer said.

For Emily McCullough, the day was emotionally exhausting and she said it was beneficial that the women went together. The thing that impacted her the most and wore on her throughout the day, was the look on people's faces, she said.

"They could talk just fine and they didn't express a lot of emotion, but you could just see in their eyes how sad they were and how they were really in shock," said McCullough, another therapist. "There were still a lot of blank stares."

The women also set up a play area for kids near the distribution tent and set out bouncy balls they had brought along, as well as a long piece of paper and markers for kids to create a "graffiti wall." The children were having some different behaviors and challenges, Rohden said, because they had gone through the experience as well.

"A lot of the families had questions about their kids [because] the kids were down in the basement with their parents when the tornado went over and then they came out to nothing," Rohden said. "So giving the parents some tips and some reassurance about what would be normal for kids to be experiencing and how they could cope with some of those behaviors is part of what we can offer as mental health."

Rohden recalls one boy who was extremely worried and stressed, but after having someone take the time to talk with him, he was able to come to a sense of peace, she said.

"He was very hyper-vigilant and frightened, but afterwards he was actually smiling and laughing again and re-engaging with his family," she added.

Mc Culllough said she received gratitude from parents who discussed with her how their children were reacting to the trauma, and even talked to one man who knew three of the seven people who died.

While it can be hard to gauge the long term impact the women had on the people they spoke with, Archer said she could see a change especially in the children they talked to in that their worried and anxious expressions left their faces and they felt free to be a kid again.

McCullough was surprised at the need for volunteers like herself and said she hopes other mental health workers would consider volunteering their time.

"There was such a great need for mental health volunteers," she said. "I would hope people in all areas would recognize the need for [it], even if a mental health person does even a day or two. We did a day and we feel like we made an impact."

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