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SUPERIOR TRUSTEE ELIA GOURGOURIS HEADING TO HAITI TO HELP FIRST RESPONDERS
By Amy Bounds
Daily Camera
01/24/2010 07:43:36 PM MST
Local psychologist is certified in disaster relief training through
Red Cross
Local psychologist Elia Gourgouris poses for a portrait outside his
home in Superior. Gourgouris is leaving for Haiti on Sunday to help
with relief efforts. ( KASIA BROUSSALIAN )
SUPERIOR -- Town Trustee Elia Gourgouris is going to Haiti, offering
his services as a psychologist trained to help first responders and
those who've experienced trauma.
"When this disaster hit Haiti, when I saw it on TV, I wanted to go,"
he said Sunday from his Superior home. "They're all, the entire
community, suffering from posttraumatic stress."
Gourgouris plans to spend a week in Haiti. He leaves for Miami on
Sunday, where he will join colleague Terry Lyles -- a veteran of
similar relief efforts in Thailand after the tsunami and New York
after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The two are planning to catch a military transport to Port-au-Prince,
bringing donated protein shakes, and want to also room with the
military. Along with the donated shakes, friends gave money to pay
for Gourgouris' flight and for the relief efforts.
Authorities estimate 200,000 people were killed by the Jan. 12,
magnitude-7.0 earthquake. Haiti's government has declared an end to
searches for living people trapped under debris, and officials are
shifting their focus to caring for the thousands of survivors living
in squalid, makeshift camps.
U.N. relief workers said the shift is critical: While deliveries
of food, medicine and water have ticked up after initial logjams,
the need continues to be overwhelming and doctors fear outbreaks of
disease in the camps.
Gourgouris, who left a private psychology practice to become a life
coach and speaker, is certified in disaster relief training through
the American Red Cross. He's also worked with first responders on
military bases and spent a week counseling students after the 1999
Columbine High School shooting.
He said his main goal is to counsel Haitian children in orphanages,
helping them talk about the horror they've experienced.
"The children are where my heart lies," he said. "It's the children
who had very little to begin with and now have nothing."
He also wants to help the first responders cope with what they're
seeing.
"They're humans, too," he said. "They're not machines. Part of our
job is to debrief them and give them a safe place to share what
they've seen."
But ultimately, he said, he's open to helping in whatever way he can.
"There may be a different need when we get there," he said. "There's
so much death in such a small place. That's what makes this so hard."
Though he's well traveled, this will be his first visit to Haiti.
"I know enough to know I'm going to be overwhelmed," he said. "I'm
clearly out of my comfort zone, but I feel like this is the right
thing to do."
Gourgouris said his trip was a family decision, one that included
his wife, Sona Gourgouris, their two sons -- 10-year-old Dimitri and
14-year-old Nicholas -- and Anna, a 16-year-old exchange student from
Armenia living with the family.
"This trip was something that didn't seem possible at first," Sona
Gourgouris said. "The more we talked about it, the more possible it
seemed. There's a lot of chaos there. But we prayed about it, and we
all felt peaceful."
His children said they're both proud and nervous about their father's
trip.
"He's helping people who have no water and no food," Dimitri said. "It
makes me feel really good."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Contact Camera Staff Writer Amy Bounds at 303-473-1341 or
[email protected].
By Amy Bounds
Daily Camera
01/24/2010 07:43:36 PM MST
Local psychologist is certified in disaster relief training through
Red Cross
Local psychologist Elia Gourgouris poses for a portrait outside his
home in Superior. Gourgouris is leaving for Haiti on Sunday to help
with relief efforts. ( KASIA BROUSSALIAN )
SUPERIOR -- Town Trustee Elia Gourgouris is going to Haiti, offering
his services as a psychologist trained to help first responders and
those who've experienced trauma.
"When this disaster hit Haiti, when I saw it on TV, I wanted to go,"
he said Sunday from his Superior home. "They're all, the entire
community, suffering from posttraumatic stress."
Gourgouris plans to spend a week in Haiti. He leaves for Miami on
Sunday, where he will join colleague Terry Lyles -- a veteran of
similar relief efforts in Thailand after the tsunami and New York
after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The two are planning to catch a military transport to Port-au-Prince,
bringing donated protein shakes, and want to also room with the
military. Along with the donated shakes, friends gave money to pay
for Gourgouris' flight and for the relief efforts.
Authorities estimate 200,000 people were killed by the Jan. 12,
magnitude-7.0 earthquake. Haiti's government has declared an end to
searches for living people trapped under debris, and officials are
shifting their focus to caring for the thousands of survivors living
in squalid, makeshift camps.
U.N. relief workers said the shift is critical: While deliveries
of food, medicine and water have ticked up after initial logjams,
the need continues to be overwhelming and doctors fear outbreaks of
disease in the camps.
Gourgouris, who left a private psychology practice to become a life
coach and speaker, is certified in disaster relief training through
the American Red Cross. He's also worked with first responders on
military bases and spent a week counseling students after the 1999
Columbine High School shooting.
He said his main goal is to counsel Haitian children in orphanages,
helping them talk about the horror they've experienced.
"The children are where my heart lies," he said. "It's the children
who had very little to begin with and now have nothing."
He also wants to help the first responders cope with what they're
seeing.
"They're humans, too," he said. "They're not machines. Part of our
job is to debrief them and give them a safe place to share what
they've seen."
But ultimately, he said, he's open to helping in whatever way he can.
"There may be a different need when we get there," he said. "There's
so much death in such a small place. That's what makes this so hard."
Though he's well traveled, this will be his first visit to Haiti.
"I know enough to know I'm going to be overwhelmed," he said. "I'm
clearly out of my comfort zone, but I feel like this is the right
thing to do."
Gourgouris said his trip was a family decision, one that included
his wife, Sona Gourgouris, their two sons -- 10-year-old Dimitri and
14-year-old Nicholas -- and Anna, a 16-year-old exchange student from
Armenia living with the family.
"This trip was something that didn't seem possible at first," Sona
Gourgouris said. "The more we talked about it, the more possible it
seemed. There's a lot of chaos there. But we prayed about it, and we
all felt peaceful."
His children said they're both proud and nervous about their father's
trip.
"He's helping people who have no water and no food," Dimitri said. "It
makes me feel really good."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Contact Camera Staff Writer Amy Bounds at 303-473-1341 or
[email protected].