Healing, for many, includes a visit to the dark-gray Pulse nightclub, which has been closed since the shooting. WELCH: The institute worked with San Bernardino County after the mass shooting in California and will help Orlando residents with lingering symptoms of depression and PTSD. It's kind of like there's a shock that wears off. WELCH: Hugs help, but healing takes time, says Elaine Miller-Karas, who runs the Trauma Resource Institute.ĮLAINE MILLER-KARAS: Actually, sometimes people start having some really difficult symptoms right about now.
You put your hand out to somebody to shake their hand, and they say, oh, no, we hug. Now, the questions are about Pulse, and he's greeted differently around town, too.ĭECARLO: In Orlando, you don't shake hands anymore you hug. Before the shooting, when he would travel out of state, people used to ask him about Disney, Epcot and SeaWorld. It was months before people could head back to the clubs, and now they're confronted with metal detectors. WELCH: Healing in the community has been slow, he says. TERRY DECARLO: To see the moms, to see the families running down the street screaming their child's name, trying to find out where their child is, it's just - it's something I would never wish on anybody. He was at the hospital that morning, helping families and survivors. DeCarlo heads an organization that's a focal point for the LGBT community. Terry DeCarlo has symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and remains in counseling. The shooting at the gay nightclub may have happened six months ago, but the pain still lingers. And for a long time, Rivera couldn't sleep. For weeks afterwards, he didn't leave his house.
WELCH: He made it out safely, but some of his friends didn't.
And at that point is when the person that was under my booth, I told him, come on, let's go, let's go, let's go. As people started running, someone hid with Ramone behind his DJ booth. The club was winding down in the early hours of June 12 when a gunman entered the building and opened fire. It was just another Latin Night at Pulse, and he was DJing out on the patio. Here's Catherine Welch from member station WMFE.ĬATHERINE WELCH, BYLINE: For Ramone Rivera, the shootings may have happened a while ago, but he remembers everything. And as the holidays approach, 49 families will celebrate without a loved one. It has been six months since the Pulse nightclub shooting.