NJ psychiatrist mental health tested as LA fires threaten home
Over his 40-year career, Dr. Gary Small, a Hackensack psychiatrist, has treated patients with anxiety and depression as they navigated traumatic events, including large-scale disasters.
Over the past week, Small’s own mental health has been shaken from afar.
Small owns a Los Angeles house in the middle of the devastating fires that have killed at least 24, burned over 40,000 acres, put more than 100,000 people under evacuation orders and damaged more than 12,000 structures.
The house he and his wife, Gigi, bought in Pacific Palisades only six months ago as a future retirement home has miraculously been spared from the fast-moving inferno that engulfed much of the neighborhood.
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Gigi, who was overseeing renovations of the fixer-upper, had to evacuate last week as embers swept through the community, pushed by strong, persistent winds.
“We’re still on edge, but we’re fortunate,” said Small, chair of psychiatry at Hackensack University Medical Center. “All the houses across the street were destroyed.”
It’s not uncommon for mental health providers to cope with the same problems as their patients, even the stress brought on by natural disasters.
No stranger to California’s threats, from wildfires to earthquakes
Small, 73, is no stranger to California’s natural threats, having lived there for most of his life before he came to New Jersey four years ago.
He lived through the 6.7 Northridge earthquake that killed 72 and caused $20 billion in property and infrastructure damage.
Wildfires have forced him to evacuate three times from other homes in Los Angeles. He has been able to commiserate with his patients over these shared experiences, but nothing prepared him for the Palisades fire.
“There’s a commonality of helplessness that you’re not in control of anything,” he said Monday. “We tend to live our lives in denial that nothing terrible is going to happen to us. And we never imagine that something is going to be so apocalyptic.”
As for so many who live in that neighborhood, Jan. 7 began normally for Small and Gigi despite warnings that extreme wind gusts could bring fire dangers.
They were talking over Facetime when a friend texted Gigi that the neighborhood was being evacuated. A line of cars soon began forming on the normally quiet street. Gigi was able to get out before motorists began abandoning their vehicles in a panic and blocking the roadways. She stayed with a friend in Westwood.
With the neighborhood closed off, the couple were now both viewing the situation from a distance with no chance to check on their house. So began a topsy-turvy few days not knowing what happened.
A sign of hope came from a video of someone driving through the community that showed their house still standing, while many around it had burned to the ground.
A few days later they received word that their house had caught fire and was destroyed. It was a false report. “We were in mourning for two hours before we found out it was a mistake,” Small said.
As the winds and fires died down a bit this week, Gigi was allowed into her house briefly to retrieve anything important. Although she couldn’t do a full assessment, there didn’t appear to be much fire damage.
Small is catching a flight to L.A. on Wednesday and hopes to get a close look at the house.
The house may be salvageable, but almost the entire neighborhood will have to be rebuilt. Many have lost homes, lost loved ones, lost pets, lost their savings. They will have to rebuild their lives. And they may also have to seek counseling.
“There is so much uncertainty about the future after an event like this,” Small said.
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