Getting first responders the mental health support they need is both an immediate and on-going process for many Central Florida agencies. A 2017 study found 85% of first responders in the country develop a condition like PTSD or depression, and that’s something local leaders said their agencies constantly battle.
“We don’t want people to go home without talking to somebody,” said Mark Swanson, Director of Public Protection in Volusia County.
Swanson and Jim Judge, the county’s Emergency Management Director, lead the county’s programs for first responders. They said in the instance of a tough call getting the first responders support is an immediate job.
“You might see quite a few different incidents and you’re okay, you get through them fine. Then all of a sudden there’s that one incident one day that triggers a reaction, so that’s why we always follow up with the crews to double check with them,” Judge said.
The county’s Critical Incident Stress Management team then meets with those that responded to the call that day and follows up in the weeks after and in recent years, they said the need for that team has grown.
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“Just over the past year, we’ve added almost 100 people, 100 providers to our CISM team. We went out and got a COPS grant that allowed us to bring in additional training,” Swanson said.
Getting the workers to ask for help or support, though, can be hard.
Marion County Fire Chief James Banta posted a Facebook video recently after the department lost a firefighter and paramedic to suicide this year.
“That’s what really struck me is that I knew we have these resources. I know we’re putting the work in to try to help our employees, yet we still have loss,” he told News 6.
Banta said they have a strong support program available with a chaplain and peer support but the recent loss makes the county leaders reflect on what improvements are needed.
“For instance, one of the things that we’ve realized is that even though we have a lot of resources for our direct employees, we’re not providing much in the way of support or training for their families, spouses,” he said.
Banta added as Florida’s population continues to grow, it’s increasing the demand for first responders. He believes all agencies will have to reevaluate the support they provide.
“It’s creating additional workloads. It’s creating for our agency mandatory overtime shifts, retention challenges and all of those things create stressors on the employee out there doing the job,” he said.
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