Advisory: Please note that this post is about the Pulse nightclub massacre on June 12, 2016. It contains sensitive and difficult to read content.
Christine Mouton is the director of UCF Victims Services and the regional coordinator of the Florida Crisis Response Team for the 9th and 10th Circuit. After the Pulse tragedy UCF Victims Services and Florida Crisis Response Team provided aid to victim’s families and survivors.
Christine got a phone call about a shooting at Pulse. She immediately called her on call advocate, and she directed her to go to the Orlando Regional Medical Center (ORMC). The advocate actually lives close to the medical center. She then proceeded to call her other staff. She managed to get three advocates down there. Then she called her community partners. She called an advocate from the sheriff’s office, she got contact information for the Victim’s Service Center which is a non-profit. They were able to provide some extra support.
An advocate helped identify the nine families who were destined to get the initial death notifications at ORMC. The doctor had to provide the death notification since he had witnessed the death, so a room was set up. Once families went in the room and came out traumatized it became very clear you did not want to go into that room. The advocate was put in charge of convincing families to go into the room. In those kind of moments people respond in terribly different ways. You can not predict how someone is going to respond. Some people just shut down, some are angry and aggressive, and you have to accept that. They have to come to accept the thing they never wanted to hear. Once the family heard the news, the advocates job then, is to provide families with the right options to empower them to make the best choices moving forward.