Gloucester is a storied fishing town, and when tragedy strikes at sea, it ripples through the entire community. Last month’s deadly boat sinking off the Gloucester coast killed seven people: Accursio “Gus” Sanfilippo, Paul Beal Sr., Paul Beal Jr., John Rousanidis, Freeman Short, Sean Therrien and Jada Samitt.
In the wake of the tragedy, families are grieving, crews are shaken, and a tight-knit community is trying to steady itself. Behind the scenes, community health workers are showing up to help families navigate the shock and loss, as well as what lies ahead.
Lauren King, vice president of community health at Fishing Partnership Support Services, and Deb Kelsey, a community health liaison with the organization, joined GBH’s All Things Considered host Arun Rath to share more about how the community is healing after a shared crisis. What follows is a lightly edited transcript of their conversation.
Arun Rath: Lauren, let’s start with you. Your organization has brought licensed community health workers into Gloucester after the tragedy. What does that support look like on the ground?
Lauren King: What’s special about what we do here at Fishing Partnership is that our community health workers — like Deb and our team, Maria, Nina and Morgan, who have been in Gloucester this week — are from the fishing industry. That might be partners of fishermen, from fishing families, or fishermen themselves, and so several of our community health workers work and live and have lived their entire lives, or most of them, in Gloucester.
What’s really special but also challenging about the work they do is that they understand the challenges of fishing families and, in this scenario, their friends, families, and loved ones, who are being impacted by the tragedy that has occurred this past week. In some ways, it’s really important what they do, but we recognize those challenges.
They’re bringing resources. They’re even doing those very basic things that you might need after something like this has occurred, but it’s really, really important — making sure that families have a warm meal, a place to gather, that there’s food and coffee.
We brought in our partners from Riverside Trauma over the weekend so that not only can our community health workers provide conversation and help folks connect with resources, but we have our partners at Riverside to help guide people as the situation progresses throughout the weekend.
Rath: Deb, when you’re speaking with families who have lost loved ones at sea, what are you hearing from most of them? What are they asking for in the early days?
Deb Kelsey: You know, I think [they’re asking for] an understanding of what has happened. How did their loved one leave for work one day and not come home? Mostly, they’re not asking for much; they’re in shock and awe, so we’re here to provide services that they’re not recognizing they need at this moment. We’re here to listen and to comfort. As a member of a fishing family, this hits home. Any time there’s a tragedy on any waterfront, it hits home.
Rath: In terms of talking about grief, I know we hear a lot about things that are universal about grief. But I know that there are also things that are very particular about it. I’m wondering, with a community that’s been around this long and has been through tragedies in the past, when you’re moving forward from that shock phase, are there things that are particular to the experience of having lost a loved one at sea?
Kelsey: I think everybody grieves differently, so it’s not one-size-fits-all. I think one of the sombering things we realize in being part of a fishing family is that they’re putting their safety at risk every day that they leave the house. We know that this could happen to any one of us.
Every time a tragedy happens, it brings you back to all the tragedies that have occurred. I know that we’re all thinking of our Gloucester family. I’ve seen many posts and reach-outs from fishing families that we’ve assisted here in New Bedford during their times of tragedy. We’re all feeling the hurt. We’re all feeling the love, and [we’re] ready to support as we can.
King: What’s really important about the work that the entire fishing partnership navigator team does is that — as you talked about, Deb — everybody grieves differently, and sometimes, even after the days that have followed turn into weeks, individuals are absolutely struggling in their own way.
What’s valuable about the support that our Gloucester team can provide is that they represent Gloucester. They live in Gloucester, and they will be there not only today, but in the coming weeks, months and years to help individuals navigate what they’re experiencing and what resources they might need.
That, I think, is the power of community. There’s no doubt that Gloucester is strong and resilient, as is New Bedford and all of our fishing communities, but there’s something really powerful about knowing that we’ve got a team that’s going to continue to be there.
Rath: It’s extraordinary — I have to say, I’ve never really thought about how when you have a community that’s been through trauma historically, each new [incident] is kind of re-traumatizing for the community. But the other thing that just strikes me more powerfully is the size of this community that you’re talking about that must be in such an awful situation. What an amazing support network.
King: Gloucester, just like all of our other fishing communities, shows up for one another and is strong and has a tight-knit community. They are a tight-knit community, and there’s a strong fabric throughout.
Our community health workers are those helpers in the community; they’ve been providing the support, and would provide the support regardless of their role. It’s really special that not only do they get to do the natural helping role they do in providing food, water, coffee and a warm space, but we’re getting hotel rooms for people, getting people rides to service if needed, and identifying those resources that — just like Deb said — they might not know that they need, but as time goes on, they might need. We can help connect with those resources.
Rath: With the broader community, beyond those who directly lost loved ones, I have to imagine that it also has to be terrifying if you have loved ones who are going out and fishing in the next days, weeks and months ahead. Is there a collective approach to helping the community through that?
Kelsey: I’m going to speak for New Bedford because that’s where my port is. I think, before I became part of a fishing family here in New Bedford, I was born and raised in New Bedford, and the industry was known in our city as a community. We have seen these tragedies happen decade after decade after decade, and I think that it’s part of the work that they do. It’s just part of the work they do. That is the risk that our families and our fishermen take to feed the world and put food on our table.
