Wildfires worsen anxiety in year of COVID-19 stress, doctors say

Dr. Venus Nicolino says sometimes the trauma of a wildfire lasts far beyond its containment date.

Lot of people are struggling... with the wildfires consuming the west, coupled with a global pandemic.

Not only with what's happening, but what comes next... kezi 9 news reporter emma jerome spoke with a psychologist who specializes in trauma -- and joins us with what she says is the most troubling thing she's seeing right now.

Dr venus nicolino, clinical psychologist 0:00 "survivors describe feeling fragile and less capable of managing stress for years after the fires" emma :"the wildfires compounded with an already stressful year due to coronavirus, and racial injustice rallies, have created a one two&three punch of stress and anxiety as families are forced to deal with whatever comes their way... doctors say these feelings are natural -- and healing does not always come easy " because even when the fires stop -- challenges still lie ahead dr v: " that could be scrambling for shelter -- the competition for builders - the toil of the insurance process all of that is also potentially harmful to our mental health -- it's all just completely exhausting" dr. nicolino adds that young people are at a higher risk of these mental health crises.

Dr v: "children and teens are extremely susceptible to compounded trauma and ptsd" dan isaacson is a member of the lane county chapter of the national alliance on mental illness.

He is also the operations director for the evacuation site for wildfrie victims here in lane county.

He says the need for resources is astronomical -- but he called the access to those resources abysmal.

Dan phoner: " we rank 50th in the country for mental health funding.

We're not even close to 49th" he says the people who come into the resource center have gone from mostly being alone due to covid -- to being surrounded by hundreds of people looking for help -- and that for some it's sensory overload.

"you mix that with the trauma of losing everything or fearing you've lost everything and mix it all with lack of resources across the board and you get some traumatic and long lasting impacts" doctor nicolino says it's important to listen to your body -- adding the anxiety and stress are natural.

For more information on mental health resources you can head to http:// namilane.org reporting in eugene emma jerome kezi