In the weeks following the catastrophic Lahaina fire in August 2023, retired paramedic instructor Mark Kunimune went to Maui to support those saving lives.
"Like a lot of first responders, when something like this happens, you want to go and help. And so I'm part of a critical incident management debriefing team here on Oʻahu, and I called the folks from American Medical Response, because that's who runs the 911 contract, and offered my help, as did a lot of other folks," he said.
With emergency calls coming in and first responders continuing to work in rescue mode, Kunimune helped facilitate mental health resources so paramedics and emergency medical technicians could begin to process the trauma of the overwhelming disaster.
"We did two debriefings, and we did it down at the beach, and what we included was that we brought a ōlelo Hawaiʻi kumu down, and she did an ocean cleansing with all the first responders," he said.
"They all shared some similar things like, you know, they felt very guilty that they weren't able to do more. They felt guilty for the fact that they were scared, they feared for their lives... They were being really hard on themselves, interestingly, even though, you know, from our perspective, they're heroes, no doubt," Kunimune told HPR.
"If they were by themselves and thought those things, they would, you know, obviously think, 'Well, I'm the only one feeling this way.' And that's a tremendous load to carry on their shoulders. But because they were in the debriefing, because they did an ocean cleansing, which kind of opened them up, they really kind of shared openly, and they heard that they had these similarities, and I think that, in itself, was really healing," he added.
Kunimune called for first responders' mental wellness to be a more mainstream priority for agency leaders — a team effort.
His nonprofit, Hoʻo Hanu, seeks to support local first responders. Email markkuni@hawaii.edu to learn more.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Aug. 7, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
