When organizers including founder and retired New York Port Authority cop Bill Keegan joined together to form HEART 9/11 — or Healing Emergency Aid Response Team, a peer-to-peer support network for the hundreds of surviving responders to the 9/11 attacks — he had no idea how far his team might go to help counsel shocked, troubled, and traumatized colleagues in police, EMS, and fire services.

Since the nonprofit organization sprang from the ashes of the twin towers, Keegan and a group of medical and financial professionals have nurtured HEART 9/11 into a growing network of responders and others.

Their primary mission is to help communities and the emergency workers serving them recover from some of the worst tragedies and disasters, from Oklahoma towns devastated by tornados and Hurricane Katrina-ravaged Louisiana and Mississippi, to Port Au Prince, Haiti, and to the relatively quieter headquarters of the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps and Newtown Police Department.

That is where Mr Keegan, facilitator Donna Lomonico and a number of other HEART 911 responders have headed — in the hours and weeks following the Sandy Hook shootings, and more recently, with representatives who are available in town most days as part of a coordinated effort with the Newtown Recovery and Resiliency team. In December 2014, the partnership launched a more strategic and financially supported effort called the “Newtown Responders Project,” according to RRT spokesperson Melissa Glaser.

“HEART 911 was here immediately after the tragedy, and the feedback that we received, especially from the police, was that their representatives were most helpful,” Ms Glaser said. “They initially held debriefings and a retreat, and when we heard how well those worked we tried to find a way to bring them back.”

Ms Lomonico recently met with The Newtown Bee at the offices of Newtown Recovery and Resiliency, while on a break from her regular tasks to talk about her experience with both the organization and her growing affection for Newtown and its dedicated emergency responders and police officers.

She came into the cause as a board member back in 2004, while HEART 9/11 was still primarily engaged in supporting countless families and survivors who responded to lower Manhattan on 9/11.

“Bill Keegan knew a lot could be done for these responders so he put together an outreach team that could also head out when needed to events outside of New York,” Ms Lomonico said. “As more emergency organizations got to know us, we started getting more calls — after tornadoes, Katrina, and we also started a project building and improving homes for disabled veterans.”

In the decade between when Ms Lomonico joined HEART 9/11 and when she and Mr Keegan arrived in Newtown, the organization’s volunteer pool of peer responders had grown to the extent where members could be dispatched and placed with agencies strategically, and for extended periods of time, as needed.

“We have a lot of experienced fire and police personnel and retirees all trained in Critical Incident Stress management [CISM], who are all willing and able to give their time,” she explained. “Since we arrived in Newtown last December, we’ve had representatives here every week.”

Here Most Days

Ms Lomonico regularly heads to Newtown from her home in New Jersey most Sundays, departing late each Tuesday. She has already become such a fixture at the local police headquarters, that when she occasionally misses a day or a shift, she said officers seek her out wondering where she’s been.

“Bill may also come up a day or two every week, while other volunteers cover days in between,” she said.

From a mental health perspective, she believes the HEART 9/11 team is making a positive difference.

“We’ve built such good rapport with ambulance volunteers, police officers and the dispatchers, that we’ve been able to help facilitate confidence,” Ms Lominco said.

“We’re here because we care, and we’ll be here for awhile to help [responders] take positive steps toward recovery and to help them recognize their role in supporting the recovery of the entire community,” she added. “When an incident occurs like you experienced here, it’s horrific. But it doesn’t need to permeate into every aspect of those departments affected.”

Ms Lomonico said responding agencies like those serving Newtown also have their own social and support networks by virtue of their volunteer or community roots.

“For volunteers in EMS, many of them come from families involved in service or medical support careers, so they have friends and family members who are involved in patient care that they can talk with after a major incident,” she said. “Firefighters are similar, because they cultivate a community of their own — not just on calls, but during drills, training, and during all their fundraising and social activities.”

A Community Of Responders

Ms Lomonico said the nature of community and volunteer emergency response is such that any major tragedy — which are hopefully few and far between — draws a mix of first-timers and veteran responders who have experience with horrific incident scenes.

“Even on these scenes, there’s a mix of responders surrounding each other, working together, interacting — they are all representing your town,” she said. “So on the occasion when you come in contact with one, it’s important to show some respect for the fact that they chose to help protect you.

“When you greet a first responder with a ‘Hello’ or a kind comment instead of a negative attitude, it’s honoring those who are doing that difficult job every day.”

One of the important aspects of a HEART 9/11 volunteer’s duties, she said, is helping responders refocus from the aftereffects of a tragedy to their future and the importance of continuing to do the things they do.

“For your responders, 12/14 was like a puzzle that got flipped over — and we’re helping [responders] put that big picture focus back together again,” she said. “We really enjoy coming up here, there are so many fantastic people in your emergency services.”

To learn more about HEART 9/11, visit HEART911.org.