What's Next For The Survivors Of The San Bernardino Shooting?
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — The San Bernardino County Environmental Health Department had a total of 85 employees when the holiday party began on Wednesday; 70 of them were inside when the shooting started.
When it was over, 12 employees were dead, 18 employees suffered injuries, and the remaining 40 survivors are now suffering from deep mental wounds.
The county provided a crisis phone line and a walk-in counseling service for the survivors, but some are saying that they need more help.
We were contacted by sources in the environmental health community who told us some of the survivors needed to come together and meet with grief counselors as a group -- and that some of them felt abandoned and alone.
"We're going to do everything we can to reduce and minimize the trauma as much as possible," San Bernardino County spokeswoman Felisa Cardona said.
Cardona added that it has taken some time to mobilize resources, but she says the county is pulling out all the stops to get these survivors the help they need.
"It's a shock to the system to have a tragedy of this magnitude happen the county, right now we're all mobilizing, and making sure our employees are taken care of," Cardona added.
The survivors in the environmental health department will not be expected to return to work with all of the other county employees Monday morning.
"It's devastating, and it's going to take us a long time to recover, if any of us do recover, to be honest," Cardona said.
