Striving To Save Those Who Save Others

Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance – Striving To Save Those Who Save Others

Guest post by Jerry Meddock Jr.

As Firefighters, Paramedics and EMTs we often have the mindsets of being the helpers but often we neglect helping ourselves.  This can take a toll on our bodies mentally and physically. When we began our careers we may have been told some of the horrific experiences we may encounter on calls we will take but unfortunately we were rarely told how to cope with them.  In our Fire Academies we concentrate on Tactics, Equipment, Personal Protective Equipment, Fire Behavior, etc.  These all are obviously very important components in our business but we cannot forget our own Mental Health.  In the twelve years of my career I have been on many horrific calls and some images of these will be in my mind forever.  There have been times that I wasn’t sure how to cope with these incidents.  The information on how to cope and what resources available was sometimes lacking.  I and many other of my Fire and EMS Brothers and Sisters suffer from Post Traumatic Stress (PTS). I have now learned a lot more since becoming a member of The Southwest Ohio CISM Team and becoming Chaplain for The Bethel Township Fire Department and a member of The New Carlisle Fire Division. I am also a Suicide Survivor having a friend and coworker die by Suicide in 2012.  I actually was the Officiant of his funeral.  This was just the beginning of my passion to help others that may be experiencing problems that they having and are not sure what resources are out there to help them.  I recently became an Ambassador and Instructor with Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance to do just that!

Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance strives to enhance our culture to concentrate more on Behavioral Health.  FBHA was organized in 2011 after it was found there was a staggering amount of Fire and EMS Suicides.  FBHA is the only known organization that is currently tracking and validating suicides in the Fire and EMS services. Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance is a IRS approved 501-C(3) charitable organization. FBHA was established to directly educate Firefighters/Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel and their families.  FBHA conducts workshops such as “Saving Those Who Save Others” which is a Suicide Awareness and Prevention workshop specifically designed by the FBHA founder, Jeff Dill, retired Captain of the Palatine Rural Fire Protection District in Inverness, IL.  FBHA’s goal is to promote good mental health to the men and women of the fire service/EMS and their families, as well as make a significant difference in reducing the number of personnel that are turning to suicide to ease their pain.  In 2014 there were 104 Suicides reported to and validated by FBHA.  We estimate that we are only receiving 25% of the reports so in reality this number is much higher.  FBHA wants to stress that this is not just a “number”, these are brothers and sisters with names, who have grieving families, and coworkers. Reports can be made at www.ffbha.org and are held strictly confidential.

FBHA also presents a workshop to help Firefighters and Emergency Medical Personnel on how to look for signs and symptoms of PTSD, Depression, and other behavioral health problems. Often when we arrive on a major incident during our daily duties we have to perform a Scene Size Up.  We educate Fire and EMS departments on how to perform an “Internal Size Up.”  This workshop covers how department members and Officer staff can best communicate with those in need and what their roles and responsibilities are, and what resources are available to direct those in need to.

We also provide a workshop for EAP, Counselors, Chaplains, Physician and Nursing staff, etc to have a better understanding of “A Firefighter’s Life.”  It is often found if these providers are not directly involved in the Fire/EMS service they may not have a total understanding of what our daily routines, calls, and stressors that occur from these calls are about.  An easy misconception can be made about the mentality of a Firefighter and how they are able to cope with certain tragedies.  The emphasis on this workshop is education of basic terminology, understanding emotional and physical stressors, addictions, suicide information, role-play, group discussion, and search & rescue exercise and question/answer session with the instructor.

Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance has just added additional Ambassadors to meet the demands of contacting departments to provide information on workshops offered.  FBHA has also hired additional Instructors who cover regions across the United States and Canada.  Information can be obtained on how and who to contact in your region at www.ffbha.org or by sending an email to info@ffbha.org.

Jerry Meddock Jr.
Ambassador & Instructor, Midwest Region
Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance
Email: jmeddock@ffbha.org