Grief Therapists Counsel Crash Survivors

by HOWARD GIRSKY A sense of dread filled the conference room at the Ramada Plaza Hotel at Kennedy Airport on Halloween as Dr. Anthony J. Maffia, vice president of psychiatry and mental health at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center led his team of grief therapists toward the knot of family members and friends of the 217 passengers who lost their lives on Egypt Air Flight 990.
"I’ve been through this before," Maffia told The Queens Courier. "It’s so hard when people are facing multiple losses as they are in this case.
Maffia and his staff of paramedics, social workers and psychiatrists had been at the same hotel last year when another doomed airliner crashed in Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia, after departing from Kennedy. Those survivors gathered at the JFK hotel, hoping their family members would be found alive. But, as in the Flight 990 crash, none were.
The Jamaica Hospital therapist said more than 50 family members had assembled on Oct. 31 at the hotel.
"As you’d suspect," he said, "they were very distraught. Some had lost both parents and others were stricken with anger, fear, anxiety, all at one time."
Maffia said from 15 to 20 grief counselors were on hand at the hotel to treat the families.
He found dozens of family members in tears, many of them sobbing uncontrollably. Strangers consoled each other as they awaited word of their families. But the only word coming was an announcement that the families would be flown to Rhode Island where investigators were seeking clues to the air disaster.
"The first year will be the toughest for the families," he said. "As the years pass, hopefully they will slowly recover. But they will never forget this event because the anniversary will be on Halloween."
When the airliner went down, the Red Cross and city agencies notified Maffia’s office. He said his own staff had already been alerted to the crash and began preparations for days of counselling of the grief-stricken families.
When the Jamaica Hospital group arrived they met with the families in hotel conference rooms.
"There were also private rooms available for families in dire straits," Maffia said. "These people are facing overlapping problems, the magnitude of which is hard to understand."
Maffia said "it’s sad but true that as you deal with these emergencies the relationships improve with the other agencies you deal with."