Crash that killed Westmoreland County teens highlights mental, physical toll on first responders

The crash that killed four teenagers in Westmoreland County over the weekend has left the community heartbroken, but for the first responders, it can be traumatic to get a call like this. Some have said it's one of the worst crashes they've gone to.

The trauma first responders deal with can go beyond psychological or mental health; it can impact their physical health as well. The first responders who were called out to the crash on Saturday can live with those impacts for quite some time. 

Groups that work with first responders say these are the calls that are hard to forget.

"Calls involving kids are always different. They usually hit differently, especially for first responders who have kids at home, young kids, or even kids around that age," therapist Jillian McVay with Village Center for Holistic Therapy said.

Some of the issues first responders can end up dealing with include PTSD, depression, anxiety, nightmares, and struggling with sleep, which can cause problems as they work with emergencies routinely.

"They may go to an incident, and it may be a traumatic incident, and they are expected to go back on call, and a month later, they are at another traumatic incident," said Caleb Kolb with Adventures in Training with a Purpose.

Organizations like Adventures in Training with a Purpose work with veterans and first responders to help them know that help is available, and they are not alone in any struggle.

"One of the things that people feel is that it's only me that's going through this, and there's a lot of people going through the same thing or a similar thing," Kolb said.

McVay, a volunteer firefighter herself, said a support system, whether that is family, friends, or colleagues, is needed in times like this.

"It really just depends on what kind of support they have in family, outside, and the support they get after the call," she said.

First responders from some of the volunteer fire companies that responded on Saturday have met to process the tragedy over the weekend.