International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, Inc.
International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, Inc.
By: The Rev’d Winston Rice, ICISF Member & Maritime Chaplain
A priest ordained in the Episcopal tradition of the Christian faith, my principal vocation is chaplain extending pastoral care to those who work on the inland, coastal and offshore waters of the USA, and their families. These men and women are away from home for extended periods of time, and my particular sphere of interest is care of those working offshore. As such, I routinely fly by long range helicopter to offshore locations in the Gulf of Mexico in water depths up to 10,000’.
I’m also a member of a team of CISM trained River Chaplain Associates led by The Rev’d Tom Rhoades posted in Baton Rouge by the Seamen’s Church Institute of New York & New Jersey, an organization extending pastoral care to mariners and their families since 1834 (https://seamenschurch.org/). While our team addresses day to day pastoral issues of the maritime workforce and their families, we are also first responders in the event of deaths and serious injuries and illnesses, some but not all occurring in the line of duty. In respect of those occurring in the line of duty, my attendance and participation in CISM Advanced Group Crisis Intervention Training has proven invaluable.
Deaths and serious injuries in the line of duty on the waters present significant challenges. First of all, there’s the issue of distance & access to the vessels. By the time we’re able to get there, some of those involved have been evacuated & scattered to the winds, and then there’s the issue of needing to avoid interfering with activities of the Coast Guard, state & local investigative organs and, of course, the ever presence of those pesky lawyers! That said, a couple of recent war stories.
The first involved a crew member who lost his life in an accident while locking a towboat and tow in Alabama, where our team has but one set of boots on the ground in the entire state and not close to the site of the incident. The best solution was to accommodate the employer who wished to ferry the involved crew to New Orleans, but only after mustering and dispatching relief for them on the towboat. This involved a delay in excess of 24 hours, but our team was on site, greeted them when they arrived, conducted a 5 Step Debriefing for the group and then did one-on-one follow-ups with those directly involved before preparing all for re-entry. We then shared the task of further follow-ups by phone during the days following our in-person interactions.
Our most recent challenge involved the line of duty death of an offshore worker on a drillship on location in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico as the rig was conducting operations to permit moving off location in the face of oncoming Hurricane Laura. Although we were apprised of the event on the Sunday afternoon it happened, helicopter personnel transfers were by then operating one way only from offshore to shoreside. To make matters more difficult, weather conditions and regulatory restrictions did not allow evacuation from the rig of those involved until the following Friday, during which time many families of those involved were struggling with the damage to their homes caused by Laura. All commercial venues sufficient to accommodate the cadre of 18 evacuees were already full of evacuees from Laura’s destruction wrought across Southwest Louisiana, but we were fortunate in that the church facilities of one of our River Chaplain Associates in Houma, Louisiana was convenient and available, and the good people there catered well for our reception. Again, our assembled team conducted a 5 Step Debriefing for the group and then did one-on-one follow-ups with those directly involved before preparing all for re-entry. All of the foregoing was made more difficult by many not wanting to be there and anxious to get home to care for their families. As before, we then shared the task of further follow-ups by phone during the days following our in-person interactions.
Our chaplaincies and CISM Teamwork with these mariners and their families are only made possible by the support and encouragement of their employers. To put the scope of our team’s activities into proper context, one needs to consider that:
Simply put, none of us could live the way we do without the men and women mariners working out there 24/7/365 and away from home and hearth for lengthy periods of time, and it’s our honor as CISM trained chaplains to serve them and their families in any way we are able.
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International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, Inc is a 501(c)3 Non Profit