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OMAGH HEROS PAY HIGH PRICE

Omagh heros pay high price

THE shattering impact of the Omagh bombing forced veteran emergency staff to quit their jobs.
A major study has revealed that the horrific 1998 Real IRA atrocity had a crushing impact on paramedics and other health workers, many of whom had worked through the worst of the Troubles.
University of Ulster lecturer Dr Selwyn Black said some clinicians who supported the bereaved and injured in Omagh became so isolated they felt unable to continue working.
Dr Black said: "A number of middle-aged medical emergency staff felt they could no longer cope emotionally with their jobs after the Omagh bombing.
"They had been exposed to some of the worst outrages of the Troubles during their working lives and the Omagh bombing was just one experience too many.
"They described their feelings as 'their emotional jugs filled to running over'."
The findings from the report are to be used in a bid to achieve new care standards for worldwide trauma sufferers.

Further Information

Publisher: NEWS LETTER

Ref: NL/517

Published Date: 24-Jul-03

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