This program was added at the last minute in response to the Palisades and Getty fires that threatened residents over the past two weeks. The program originally planned for November 4, on Social Security, will be rescheduled.
We are grateful to Palisadian Marvin Kaphan, a psychotherapist with deep experience in working with groups, for guiding the impromptu session. Mr. Kaphan, an LCSW and MFT, is a Diplomate of the American Board of Examiners in Clinical Social Work and a Certified Group Psychotherapist. He has engaged in the full-time private practice of psychotherapy since 1960. For almost all that time he has been an enthusiastic advocate of group psychotherapy, and has maintained six ongoing groups in addition to a full schedule of individual sessions.
Mr. Kaphan has studied at CCNY, NYU, Princeton University, Rutgers University, and Columbia University. He has taught at several local colleges and has served as a field teacher for the University of Southern California School of Social Work. His experience has included residential treatment, child guidance, play therapy, and supervision in various settings. Mr. Kaphan was the first full- time professional employee of the Los Angeles Suicide prevention Center at its inception. He was chief Psychiatric Social Worker when he left.
Mr. Kaphan has done many demonstrations and lectures in Los Angeles and in other parts of the United States and Canada. On two occasions he has addressed the American Psychiatric Association. In 2006, he was awarded the prestigious VIDA (Vision, Innovation, Dedication, Achievement) award by the Group Psychotherapy Association of Southern California. In 2010, he was named a Life Fellow of the American Group Psychotherapy Association. He was President of the Group Psychotherapy Association of Southern California for two successive terms.
Our erstwhile notetaker attended the program and filed this report:
Fifty-two of us gathered in a circle, and under the gentle and encouraging hand of our facilitator Marvin Kaphan, recounted their recent experiences of the two fires.
We were told of the advantage of talking about these experiences for a while as people easily forget.
Mr. Kaphan started by asking how people felt when they first heard about the fires:
- A lifelong diabetic gathered all her supplies close by and recounted her special vulnerabilities. She keeps a supply in her car, just in case.
-Iris heard about the fire a couple of hours late; living South of Sunset, she did not really have to evacuate, but needed to be alert to the possibility at any time.
- On Bollinger Drive, outside the compulsory evacuation zone, a lady was awakened by phone and found out the exact fire info by googling Pac Pal fires. She had to help a 92 year old neighbor with bad hearing, if needed.
- Somebody said she had been terrified, awakened by her dog, as she had removed her hearing aid before going to sleep.
- A lady who does not drive explained how vulnerable she felt. A neighbor offered her a couch, but she is a poor sleeper. The whole experience terrified her.
Many people enumerated their transportation problems and traffic concerns:
Quite a few seniors do not drive any more and depend on others. Some decided to just 'shelter in place', but this is not always the wise solution and can lead to dire consequences.
- Sue, on Galloway, saw a policeman on the street who advised her of the necessity to evacuate; she packed her medication and decided to walk to the Red Cross shelter near the library; 10 to 15 people were already there; it was very nice. She got a ride back home, at first felt ok and then a bit shook up...
- A couple, in the mandatory evacuation zone, did not have a car but were picked up by a police car and taken to the Red Cross center; the elderly husband got confused and started talking about his brother who died in 1944. Interestingly enough, the shelter was pretty close to the fire zone... and some people wondered why it had been allowed to operate there..
- Esther, who mentioned that she likes to make plans, decided that the Red Cross center was too close to the fire zone and decided to just stay home as her building was not in the compulsory evacuation zone. She mentioned how exhausting the decision making process was.
- A lady, who has two cats - one of them that cannot be easily captured - was wondering where to go with the two cats. decided it was better to just leave them at home with food and water - a frightening state of affairs. Being alone was difficult. Fortunately, a neighbor in the building was helpful and they talked a few times. She stated that it felt like a very scary situation. Being on alert is very stressful.
- One person took Sunset to PCH. Driving towards Santa Monica, she recounted, was a 'parking lot situation'. Going towards Malibu, however, was apparently easy.
- A TV program depicted a couple picking up a young couple in their car and the car burnt out.
- Garage doors - A reminder that one needs to have a system where there is a battery back up for the door, if the garage door opens electrically and the manual system is too hard to operate.
Miscellaneous points raised:
- Smoke problems: If one decides to shelter in place and the fire from the smoke gets close, it is NOT a good situation...
- Fire in the canyon - Palisades Drive: At the time of the first fire, the bottom of the canyon was closed, the fire road also; sheltering in place was the order received. A very worrisome situation where one fears to end up killed by the fire!
- A gentleman complained that the situation was being politicized, as President Trump was criticizing the way our governor was mishandling our state's fire dangers.
- A recent article in the Los Angeles Times explained that, fortunately, there was a great source of water at the top of our local Santa Monica mountains, in the form of several private water reservoirs that the owner of the site left at the disposal of the fire department; helicopters can 'suck' water out of the reservoirs and dump it immediately in the vicinity.
- Iris recounted an episode where her sister called from Mexico City and said 'I do not want to tell you what to do, but.... go to Santa Monica."
- Esther mentioned that the thought of having to deal with electricity was very worrisome: no TV, phone, use of elevators, etc. For her, the most important thing was to feel she could function. She also found it very reassuring to have someone with them. She suggested that one could ask a neighbor to come and stay with one and vice versa.
Attendees asked, Where are we as a collective? Where is the block captain?
Some thoughts to ponder... Organizing some kind of network with neighbors would be a good idea.
Mr. Kaphan asked us to think about what we would do differently next time:
- Someone mentioned getting all info on her neighbors on her street, phone numbers, emails - a high tech solution - LOTS to think about. In general, it's important to get to know one's neighbors.
- Everyone was so grateful to our wonderful Fire Department! A suggestion was made to give a contribution to them..
- At the last meeting, we were given some plastic signs to hang on our door knobs indicating whether we needed help or not; it is a good idea to have these signs handy.
Mr. Kaphan encouraged us to deal with our ongoing feeling of fear by sharing our feelings:
Our lasting anxiety produces adrenaline and hormonal changes; we have to take steps to protect ourselves by connecting more with neighbors and friends and talking with others.
Palisades Alliance will be having another meeting in the future to help us better prepare, learn how to deal with stress and reach out to each other. Seventy per cent of people saved in fires are saved by their neighbors, apparently...
Councilman Bonin has scheduled a Fire Safety meeting at Paul Revere Middle School for Saturday, November 9. Information here.