Shining a Light on Last Responders by Debra Venzke, University of Iowa management workers during COVID-19 and to provide space for them to share their stories—what happened, what the challenges were, what made them despair or gave them hope,” Afifi says. Caretakers and Crises The idea for the project originated with Peter Teahen, a funeral director and funeral home owner in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He reached out to the college with the concern that the role and welfare of fatalities management workers in the pandemic were being overlooked. Teahen’s training and background includes 31 years in disaster services and mental health crisis management. In 1989, he served as one of the coordinators of mortuary affairs at the United Airlines Flight 232 crash site in Sioux City. Since then, he has served in leadership roles in more than 70 major disasters around the world, including the Oklahoma City bombing, 9/11 in New York, Hurricane Katrina, and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. He has served as a national spokesperson for the American Red Cross since 1999. Although Teahen sees many similarities between the pandemic and other crises, he notes that there are a number of unique challenges and stressors with COVID-19. “One of the more serious parts of this is the unknown,” Teahen says, referring to the still evolving understanding of the virus. “COVID doesn’t die with the patient. All the staff dealing with the deceased are just as susceptible to getting COVID as if they were in the hospital environment.” Just like first responders and frontline health care workers, last responders are willing to take risks to care for others in their professional role, Teahen says. “We also have to live with the nightmare that we’re going to bring COVID home to our families. There’s never been something of this global magnitude threatening and killing the caregivers.” In fact, Teahen tested positive for COVID-19 in the spring of 2020. “I believe it was because of one of the cases I dealt with. I’ve handled multiple COVID deaths,” he says. “I nagged my staff and my family about all the safety precautions. And regardless of how safe www.ogr.org | The Independent® 9
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