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Uwald (U.S.), Sept. 3 (AP) A girl flees and hides after seeing thin man with long hair, like the gunman who stormed Uwald’s school and killed 21 people stand up.
A boy stopped making friends and playing with animals.
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The third child’s heart raced as she remembered the May 24 massacre that killed a close friend – a massacre so dangerous that she had to be rushed to the hospital, where she stayed for several days. week.
The 11-year-old girl was diagnosed with anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
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She and her family were interviewed by The Associated Press on the condition that her name not be used to protect her identity.
“I’ve never lost anyone before,” she said, adding that her friend, one of 19 students and two teachers killed in America’s deadliest school massacre in a decade, would encourage her to survive. through hard times.
“She’s a very strong person.”
Since the Robb Elementary School massacre, pupils prepare to return to their school in Uvalde on Tuesday, where symptoms of PTSD are starting to show.
Parents find themselves powerless, and experts worry because communities of color, such as the predominantly Hispanic city of Uvald, have disparities in access to mental health care.
It can be more difficult for low-income families because of the long waits for referrals through Medicaid programs such as Medicaid to access limited resources.
“It’s hard to hear what these kids are going through at such a young age,” said Euri Castro, mother of two boys in Uwald, whose cousin was killed in the shooting, and whose son once accepted Educated by two slain teachers.
Castro knew the children were so traumatized they had stopped talking.
The school shooting has dramatically upended the lives of the survivors.
For some people, symptoms persist for years, making it difficult to find high-quality treatments.
In recent years, Texas lawmakers have focused on mental health services, spending more than $2.5 billion this fiscal year.
But according to the family of the 11-year-old girl — lifelong residents of Uvalde — the only mental health center in the area — just a few blocks from Robb Elementary — is rarely used or discussed, raising concerns about the lack of response to symptoms and signs of awareness of concerns. Mental illness and the stigma surrounding seeking help.
The 11-year-old’s mother, who was hospitalized with a racing heart, said speaking openly about mental health was previously taboo in the Latino community, where it’s culturally seen as being lazy, bored or having a tantrum.
“I remember being like, go over there, you’re just doing chiplada,” the mother said, using a Spanish word that means “pretend.”
Now, she said, while some people still ask why survivors like her daughter need help, the town is waking up to the reality of mental health.
Community members have been supporting each other by connecting with extended family and friends and using established community resources, including Red Cross counseling and Church emotional support.
The parents of one of the children who were killed have formed an organization that will organize wilderness shelters for victims’ families and survivors.
Residents also have social media groups where they can share mental health resources and express their grief.
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission contracted with organizations to create a mental health hotline that answered nearly 400 calls in six weeks.
Martha Rodriguez, who coordinated the recovery of students following the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., said officials needed to visit the community to make sure the right resources were available.
Addressing stigma and sending in providers who understand the family’s language and values ​​are key, she said.
“Some families may be reluctant to share pain and needs,” she said.
Many of the families affected by the shooting are Roman Catholics.
The mother of a girl who survived the attack said her daughter could only open up to a pastor in Houston, 450 kilometers away, whom the family would visit when visiting family.
“It’s going to be a long journey. It’s not something we can do some work on and fix it,” said San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller.
Many students who survived the May 2018 shooting at Santa Fe High School left 10 dead and six in suburban Houston, said Julie Capullo, director of the trauma and grief center at Texas Children’s Hospital and New Orleans Children’s Hospital. No symptoms for months.
“I expect we’ll see some similarities,” said Capullo, who has been training clinicians and others treating families at Uwald.
“Part of it is that these symptoms haven’t manifested, and they start to manifest when they think about the event itself. Or the caregiver starts to realize, wait a minute, my child hasn’t eaten or slept yet.'”
The length of treatment depends on the severity of symptoms. For some people, it can last as long as two to three years.
After the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Melissa Brymer, director of the Terrorism and Disaster Program at the UCLA-Duke National Center for Child Trauma Stress, was principal at Newtown, Connecticut Public Schools. consultant.
Officials need to make sure families have access to services in schools, she said.
They also need to create spaces that feel more friendly, like community dining, rather than clinics.
The parents of an incoming fifth-grader who is battling symptoms opted to homeschool her this year so she can more easily continue with appointments.
She also got a service dog that alerts her if her heart rate goes up.
But she worries that her brothers will return to the classroom and that others will judge her for being affected by the Holocaust without being shot, her mother said.
She wakes up every day with night terrors.
“We don’t sleep. … We don’t even know what it is since it happened,” the mother said.
“I’m going to have to deal with this, no matter how long it takes her to heal.” (AP)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News feed, the body of the content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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