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Dr. Jeffrey L. Reynolds

Social Entrepreneur, Speaker, Author, Triathlete

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Another Reason To Stop With The Fireworks

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PTSD-SIGNThere are lots of reasons to leave fireworks displays to the professionals. Beyond the risk of personal injury and fire, many veterans and their families have come to dread July 4th celebrations, which this year seemed to start in mid-June. As Independence Day approaches, many of our nation’s veterans have become prisoners in their own homes as they seek refuge from sounds, sights and smells that can trigger Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Here’s what one military spouse posted on Facebook:

“Well, we’ve finally made it to what has now become one of the most predictably dreaded weeks of the year in our home…. the week including the 4th of July. A day that we used to enjoy celebrating our country’s freedom, it’s independence, has ironically become a tremendous source of added mental anguish for my husband, and for many other Veterans, the very people who have fought the hardest for our freedoms. Last year’s FOUR days in a row of explosions (YES, I said four days…. and we are not referring to sparklers here my friends, but the BIG ones) in our neighborhood started my hubby on a PTSD downhill spiral that wound him up in an inpatient lockdown facility a few days later…. absolutely NOT okay! I vowed after last year that if I had to temporarily move him to a hotel in the middle of a city where fireworks were not allowed, I would do it, because it was like torture for him. It was so hard watching him try to maintain his calm and use all his coping skills (and meds of course) and still continue to get worse and worse each day. He also re-injured himself physically twice that week, when he hit the ground “diving for cover” (automatic response). For those of you who are struggling with this in your homes also, or just looking for understanding as to why this is so bad for many of these Vets, I wanted to share with you what he was able to tell me on the first night of the fireworks last year (when he could still communicate a bit)…. I think it was profound and I really appreciated him letting me in for better understanding. He said, “I can sit here and tell myself all night long that those explosions out there are not a danger to us and that I am NOT in Iraq right now …. I understand that intellectually…. that they are JUST fireworks…. BUT that doesn’t stop this awful FEELING inside me that IF I don’t go out there and try to do something about it, that people ARE going to die!” I’m not sure that every Vet would say it the same way, but I’m guessing many might. I am really glad that this year we live in a state where fireworks (used by the general public) are mostly banned, not that I think a few people around me won’t try it, so hopefully that will narrow down the activity considerably, and we will make it through without the level of agony we experienced last year. I think (or hope) it would help if the general public were better informed about how badly this affects many Veterans, so that they may choose different options for celebrating the 4th. Please pass this around so we can make people aware, who otherwise may not have any way to understand.”

PTSD is actually pretty common in the general population and experiencing trauma isn’t rare. About 6 of every 10 (or 60%) of men and 5 of every 10 (or 50%) of women experience at least one trauma in their lives. Women are more likely to experience sexual assault and child sexual abuse. Men are more likely to experience accidents, physical assault, combat, disaster, or to witness death or injury. Chronic poverty and community violence can fuel PTSD in children and families. Among civilians:

  • About 7 or 8 out of every 100 people (or 7-8% of the population) will have PTSD at some point in their lives.
  • About 8 million adults have PTSD during a given year. This is only a small portion of those who have gone through a trauma.
  • About 10 of every 100 (or 10%) of women develop PTSD sometime in their lives compared with about 4 of every 100 (or 4%) of men.

Increasingly, those who have experienced direct or vicarious trauma because of mass shootings or other acts of gun violence are among those most at risk given the loud bangs and flashes associated with fireworks. School-age children are at even higher risk than their adult counterparts.

Military service comes with an added – and often compounded – set of risks for PTSD. According to the Veterans Administration, PTSD varies by service era:

  • Operations Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Enduring Freedom (OEF): About 11-20 out of every 100 Veterans (or between 11-20%) who served in OIF or OEF have PTSD in a given year.
  • Gulf War (Desert Storm): About 12 out of every 100 Gulf War Veterans (or 12%) have PTSD in a given year.
  • Vietnam War: About 15 out of every 100 Vietnam Veterans (or 15%) were currently diagnosed with PTSD at the time of the most recent study in the late 1980s, the National
  • Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study (NVVRS). It is estimated that about 30 out of every 100 (or 30%) of Vietnam Veterans have had PTSD in their lifetime.

Lots of folks in our community are struggling with trauma and PTSD. Making sure that everyone can enjoy our annual national celebration of our freedoms – especially those who fought for those freedoms seems like the very least we can do.

Consider Mental Health In The Way We Work Post-Pandemic

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In coming weeks, New York will officially reopen for business and millions of us will shed our sweatpants, venture from our quarantined homes, and brave the rush hour commute. It won’t be like any other Monday morning. COVID-19 has changed the world, it’s changed all of us, and it’s changed the way we work.

We’ll be returning to work — assuming we are lucky enough to still have a job — having survived the worst public health catastrophe in more than a century. With more than 60,000 fatalities nationwide to date, virtually everyone now knows someone who has died of COVID-19, a miserable death that’s been compared to drowning. Barred from gathering at bedsides and funerals, we have also lost the opportunity to grieve in the traditional ways. 

Our nation — and the New York metro area as a pandemic epicenter — is experiencing collective grief fueled by social media pleas from sick folks desperately trying to get tested, a steady stream of posts memorializing those who have perished, and 24/7 media images of body bags stacked in hospital hallways. We all feel vulnerable and scared.

Social distancing has changed our routines and sleep patterns; our schedules have been upended. We find comic relief in social media memes about how much wine it will take to get through the quarantine and use “likes” to rationalize day drinking. We’re seeking comfort in food, and now locked out of the gym we barely visited anyway, have nicknamed our continued weight gain the “COVID 15.” Those who avoid life’s foibles by escaping into work are grinding harder and chastising themselves for not being more productive. In reality, we’re not simply working at home; we’re trying to get stuff done while surviving a financial and physical pandemic.

Federal surveys by the National Institute of Mental Health suggest that half of American adults experience a diagnosable anxiety or depressive disorder at some point in their lives. That percentage will climb going forward, since virtually everyone is feeling anxious, stressed, frightened, and worried in ways they haven’t before.

The trauma and its accompanying mental health conditions won’t automatically disappear because someone flips a switch and sends us back to the office. In fact, for some, anxiety or depression will become crippling. They may have a hard time leaving the house or may continue excessive drinking. At the very least, productivity will suffer. Now is the time for companies to consider an Employee Assistance Program for employees who need professional support.

It is also the time for workplaces to begin designing their own rolling re-entry plan guided by lessons learned, gratitude for those who have persevered, and employee input. That plan should include social distancing, easy access to PPE, and other means of ensuring health and safety.

On a more positive note, we have come to understand that remote work makes good employees more productive, not less. While Common Core math is no party, working remotely has given many parents the opportunity to spend more time with their kids, their spouses, and their families. As such, they may not be eager to give back that hour per day to sit in traffic. Workplace flexibility will likely become as important, if not more so, than salary.

We’ve figured out how many meetings could have been emails, but we’ve also come to appreciate how face-to-face contact, small talk, and nuanced exchanges harness our collective power. Re-entry should start with organization-wide gatherings to get everyone reconnected.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and many of his gubernatorial peers have all earned accolades for their clear, consistent, and honest briefings. Corporate executives and workplace managers should understand that honest, frank, and transparent communication is critical to good leadership.

As horrific as COVID-19 has been, it presents a unique opportunity to rebuild our lives, our communities, and our workplaces with a renewed commitment to flexibility, fairness, transparency, humility, and kindness.

Long Island often leads the way, so let’s get to work.

This article first appeared in the May 2020 edition of the Long Island Press

COVID-19 Lays Bare Long Island’s Health Care Disparities

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Gov. Cuomo has put New York State on PAUSE, directing all non-essential workers to work from home, and requiring everyone else to maintain a 6-foot distance from others in public. Thankfully, that bold strategy has flattened the COVID-19 curve, lowered infection rates and saved countless lives. The benefits, however, haven’t been universal.

Black and Hispanic families nationwide and here on Long Island face a much higher risk of contracting and dying from coronavirus. Health disparities on Long Island are nothing new, but the COVID-19 pandemic has laid them bare. Consider these numbers: Blacks make up 11.7 percent of Nassau’s population, but account for 18 percent of COVID-19 deaths. They account for roughly 8 percent of Suffolk’s total population, but account for 11 percent of deaths. Age-adjusted COVID death rates among Hispanics are roughly twice those for whites in both counties.

With almost 3,000 diagnosed cases to date, Brentwood – a mostly minority community – has more cases than 25 states and territories and more than six times as many cases as neighboring Dix Hills. In Nassau, Hempstead has had 1,528 confirmed COVID cases, eight times as many as neighboring Garden City, which is more affluent and overwhelmingly white.



Some of the differences may be attributable to the fact that, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), people who have other health conditions — obesity, asthma, lung disease, cardiovascular disease, or diabetes — are at higher risk for serious illness from COVID-19. All of those exacerbating conditions disproportionately impact people of color.

Racial and ethnic health disparities of all kinds have long been tied to structural inequalities in income, housing, jobs, and health care access. If some or all of this comes down to money, this crisis may make things worse. Many businesses, including restaurants, that employ low-wage workers have closed – some probably for good. Unemployment is skyrocketing. The digital divide and living conditions that make distance learning difficult will further hamper the education of black and brown kids. Two-generation families are crowding into the studio apartments in communities that are already struggling. All of this is bad for public health.

The bright spot in this crisis is that we’ve been reminded how courageous and deeply committed our first responders, doctors, nurses and healthcare workers are. Our appreciation for teachers has also grown immensely as we have struggled to keep our kids on a schedule and combed the web for Common Core answer keys. The coronavirus crisis has also highlighted the importance and dedication of  “essential workers,” unsung heroes who are delivering toilet paper and dinners to our homes, sanitizing offices and cleaning up gloves in parking lots, working in supermarkets, convenience stores and gas stations, keeping the public transportation system functioning, providing social work services and childcare, and yes, working in healthcare.



While many of us worked remotely while sipping coffee in the comfort of our homes, tens of thousands of our neighbors traveled to work each day, laboring for upwards of 12 hours before returning back home, petrified that they’d been infected and frightened for the safety of their families. These are the same folks some have argued aren’t worthy of a $15 minimum wage.

As we begin our post-pandemic post-mortem, we owe all of our essential workers a huge thank you. More importantly, we owe them access to decent-paying jobs, affordable housing, accessible health insurance, comprehensive community services and a shot at staying alive.

This article first appeared in the April 22, 2020 edition of Long Island Business News

COVID-19 Quarantine Reading Recommendations

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With social isolation the law of the land right now, you’ve got a great opportunity to catch up on some reading. Here’s a quick list of some non-fiction books you might enjoy:

Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.
Brené Brown has taught us what it means to dare greatly, rise strong, and brave the wilderness. Now, based on new research conducted with leaders, change makers, and culture shifters, she’s showing us how to put those ideas into practice so we can step up and lead.

Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers
Interviews from 200+ world leaders form the basis for this groundbreaking tome from Tim Ferriss, the number-one New York Times best-selling author of The 4-Hour Workweek.

Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t
The New York Times best seller by the acclaimed, best-selling author of Start With Why and Together Is Better. Now with an expanded chapter and appendix on leading millennials, based on Simon Sinek’s viral video “Millenials in the Workplace” (150+ million views).

White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism
Robin DiAngelo’s best-selling book exploring the counterproductive reactions white people have when their assumptions about race are challenged and how these reactions maintain racial inequality.

Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It
Chris Voss, a former international hostage negotiator for the FBI, offers a new field-tested approach to high-stakes negotiations – whether in the boardroom or at home.

Principles: Life and Work
Ray Dalio, one of the world’s most successful investors and entrepreneurs, shares the unconventional principles that he’s developed, refined, and used over the past 40 years to create unique results in both life and business – and which any person or organization can adopt to help achieve their goals.

Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations (Version 2.0, With a New Afterword)
In his most ambitious work to date, Thomas L. Friedman shows that we have entered an age of dizzying acceleration – and explains how to live in it.

25 Hours a Day: Going One More to Get What You Want
You have big dreams that fire you up, and yet a fear of failure is holding you back. You see the success others have achieved and doubt you could ever do what they’ve done. You tell yourself you lack the smarts, skills, or leadership capabilities to live out your dream, but the truth is, there’s a massive gap between what you think you can do and what you’re actually capable of doing. Nick Bare wants to help you close that gap. 

How I Built This: The Unexpected Paths to Success from the World’s Most Inspiring Entrepreneurs
Based on the highly acclaimed NPR podcast, How I Built This with Guy Raz, this book offers priceless insights and inspiration from the world’s top entrepreneurs on how to start, launch, and build a successful venture.

This Is Marketing: You Can’t Be Seen Until You Learn to See
A game-changing approach to marketing, sales, and advertising.  Seth Godin has taught and inspired millions of entrepreneurs, marketers, leaders, and fans from all walks of life, via his blog, online courses, lectures, and best-selling books. Now, for the first time, Godin offers the core of his marketing wisdom in one compact, accessible, and timeless package. This Is Marketing shows you how to do work you’re proud of, whether you’re a tech start-up founder, a small-business owner, or part of a large corporation.

With any luck, this pandemic will crest and then subside soon, allowing us to return to some semblance of normalcy. Reading or listening to books will send you back to school and work smarter and better prepared for what comes next.

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