The last two weeks has brought death, tragedy, and injuries to the New Hampshire region.
- Murder of two parents by an 11-year-old
- Murder outside Manchvegas night club
- Murder In Manchester on Sagamore Street
- Shootings
- Stabbings
- Fatal accidents
- Suicides, including including bridge-jumping, and shootings
- Fatal overdoses
- Deadly fires
As a photojournalist I run toward many of these events to cover them for the news industry. I also try my hardest to show the first-responders doing their jobs.
I am not a firefighter, EMT, Paramedic, Investigator or member of law enforcement. I am not someone who works in the ER seeing the victims. I am not the medical examiner who sees only the victims who didn’t make it.
Although I think my job is important, and I try to do it well, I have the easy job.
I am not seeing what first-responders see at the scenes. I am not trying to save the lives of a stranger, sometimes winning and losing at the task.
There is always a rush to the scene and then, after, I reflect on what just happened. How many first-responders were involved, and how many families and friends were affected.
This week while on scene at Sagamore Street I had a conversation with Wayne DiGeronimo who has seen the worse of the worse in over 20 years with the NH Medical Examiner’s Office.
I realized he NEVER gets called for a “good situation,” only when the injuries are so extreme the person perished.
It made me reflect, as a deceased man lay on the ground just feet away, what first-responders see EVERY DAY.
They can’t “unsee” what they have rushed toward, and can’t ever forget what they saw.
Arm chair quarterbacks and keyboard commandos sit at home questioning what these first-responders do.
The large percentage of people commenting on social media have never even seen a deceased person, unless they saw it on TV. The show(s) they watched made them know how to do it better than the trained professionals.
I could go on, but I will close in saying the following, which hopefully some people remember:
- First-responders have a very tough job and do it well
- Every scene is different and every first-responder does everything they can to save lives
- Think of the victim before commenting
- Think of families of the victims before saying insensitive things
- Everyone is someone’s son, or daughter
Lastly if you haven’t done something good for someone today YOU are the problem. First-responders do something EVERY DAY.