Aloha:
Tyree Bacon
Edward Burns
Richard Doerler
Christine Famiglietti
John Feal
William Fischer
John Gallagher
Kenneth George
Stacey Goodman
Roy Gross
Alex Nikulin
Carol Paukner
James Vaz
Robert Weisberg
Terese Wunderlich
I am posting a generic version of the four letters I sent each of you on September 16, 2011, one letter to each of you in care of Sumner Redstone, the CEO and President of CBS, Scott Peley, the reporter who did the 9/11 segment on 60 Minutes you were in, Dr. Benjamin Luft, who was on 60 Minutes with you, and Melodie Guerrera, the Director of the WTC Program Oral History Project.
I don’t know if you received any of those letters. I do know that I haven’t received a single reply, and none of the letters were returned.
Prior to sending you the letters, I called Mr. Redstone and was told by his secretary that speaking to him “was not going to happen.” I faxed him a letter, but got no reply. I called Dr. Luft and left a message, but also got no return call.
I find this to be a sad commentary after a tragic event with continuing distress that is unnecessary. I hope you will get this letter, and I hope you will take advantage of the generous offer your fellow citizens are making to you.
Me ka mahalo (Respectfully),
Terence C. Wade, Ph.D.
PS. I will be available for phone calls after June 16, 2012, at 808-521-EMDR (3637).
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September 16, 2011
Aloha (9/11 Responders Listed Above Who Were Involved with the 60 Minutes Program on September 11, 2011):
I am writing you because I am disturbed by the 60 Minutes segment, “Ground Zero responders remember 9/11,” and I want to do what I can to see you receive the right treatment to overcome what Scott Pelley said on the show was “mental trauma (that is) likely to last a lifetime” and Bill Fisher described as, “Something nobody mentioned. We all have it. Post-traumatic stress. We’ll have it forever.”
You do NOT need to “have it forever” because your fellow New Yorker therapists have volunteered to provide you the right treatment for free – without knowing who you are or that this has anything to do with 60 Minutes – simply because you were a 9/11 responder.
However, this is bigger than you, or me, or the therapists who volunteered – this is ultimately for ALL the 9/11 responders who still suffer from post-traumatic stress because of misinformation the media repeats that it is “mental trauma that lasts a lifetime” when effective treatment is available.
That treatment is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). I have used EMDR for 20 years. All the therapists who volunteered are Certified in EMDR by the EMDR International Association (EMDRIA). (You can check out EMDR at EMDR.com and EMDRIA.org.) The EMDR Humanitarian Assistance Program (EMDR-HAP) has provided EMDR for free to disaster victims around the world, including some 9/11 responders. (You can check out EMDR-HAP at EMDRHAP.org. I have enclosed an abstract of a peer-reviewed article published in a journal of the American Psychological Association that reports on treating 9/11 responders with EMDR.)
I hope you will take your fellow New Yorker therapists up on their offer – for yourself, your family who suffer with you, and your fellow 9/11 responders and their families who still suffer.
Please call me any time on my cell phone at 808-521-EMDR (3637).
Mahalo nui loa (Thank you very much),
Terence C. Wade, Ph.D., FAAETS, FACFE, FACAPP
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Facilitator, EMDR Institute
Certified Therapist and Approved Consultant, EMDRIA
Fellow, American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress
EMDR Hawaii 