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Wednesday, November 11, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
MENTAL HEALTH: Ongoing
trauma takes a toll on
first responders
Continued from page 1
adjustment in the thought
process and culture sur-
rounding the mental health
of first responders and pay-
ing more attention to their
well-being after tough calls,=
said Tim Craig, deputy chief
of operations/training at the
Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire
District.
Craig spoke with The
Nugget about the shift in
firefighter and EMS culture
and training in regard to
focusing more on the well-
being of first responders.
Craig spoke about the fact
that this year in particular,
there has been stress since
March when the pandemic
began and <it hasn9t really
let up since.= Not only has
COVID-19 created an extra
stressor on first responders,
but a string of recent fatal
accidents among Sisters
youth has also had a signifi-
cant impact and created a
need for looking at the well-
being of first responders
after a critical incident.
Craig has been in the fire
service for over 25 years and
has had his share of <bad
calls.= But not all of the calls
that cause stress to crews
are those stereotypical <bad
calls.=
<A lot of times a spe-
cific call for a crew member
can cause a stress-related
response based on if they
have something that ties
them to what is happening,=
said Craig.
There has been a shift
within the firefighter culture
from the suck-it-up attitude
A lot of times a
specific call for a crew
member can cause a
stress-related response
based on if they have
something that ties
them to what
is happening
—Tim Craig
to a culture of trust and an
environment where people
could feel as if they could
self-report what is going on
and if they need help.
<This kind of thing is
just another type of injury,=
Craig said. <It is not visible,
but it is an injury to one of
our people. We don9t put
someone out there with a
broken ankle, why would
we allow them to run around
with demons in the head?
They become a sustained
stress injury unless properly
treated and addressed.=
This culture shift and
developing an environment
of trust has allowed for
new programs and training
in mental health to emerge
within the curriculum for fire
training.
Fire Chief Roger Johnson
with Sisters-Camp Sherman
Fire District, also spoke with
The Nugget about the well-
being of his crew in light of
recent events.
<Generally, responders
are doing well, and there is
resilience but there is still
an effort to communicate
more,= said Johnson.
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to check in with the crews
and Johnson said, <The guys
really notice changes with
each other because they
live together basically for
48 hours on shift. The guys
have access to a 24-hour
counselor as well as there are
staff programs for training
and there is the availability
to lots of resources.=
Over the past few years,
training programs and aware-
ness toward checking in on
crews has emerged from an
operational level within fire
services. In particular, there
has been the development
of peer-support programs
that aim to train respond-
ers in treating their fellow
crew members when stress
is impacting them and assists
in how to get them the help
that they might need.
As stated by the Central
Oregon Public Safety
Chaplains website: <The peer
support program mission is
to provide our public safety
employees an opportunity to
receive physical, psychologi-
cal and emotional support
through times of personal
or professional crisis and to
help anticipate and address
potential difficulties.=
Joel Stutzman, execu-
tive chaplain with Central
Oregon Public Safety
Chaplains, spoke about train-
ing initiatives and what their
organization does to care for
their first responders.
<A chaplaincy is an orga-
nization that cares for the
first responder so they may
better care for their commu-
nities,= said Stutzman.
The chaplains follow up
with first responders after
an incident and check in
on them through various
programs.
<A lot of the stuff we do
is behind the scenes 4 con-
necting one-on-one and
going to the station physi-
cally to talk and check in,
etcetera,= said Stutzman.
<We try to bring calm to
chaos because it is uncom-
mon stuff that these guys
witness.=
The main mission of the
chaplains is to be a ministry
of presence, which means
they9re being someone that
the first responders know is
there for them to talk to.
<We do a lot of referring
out depending on what they
might need. We have a great
network of relationships
with counselors or pastors
for those who need help,=
said Stutzman.
Chaplains are trained
in Critical Incident Stress
Management (CISM).
CISM is a comprehensive,
organized approach for the
reduction and control of the
harmful aspects of stress
in the emergency services.
After a critical stress inci-
dent, they do a diffusing
and debriefing process to
allow time to process the
experience and then work
through it accordingly and
teach tools in how to cope
with what has happened.
We do a lot of
referring out depending
on what they might need.
We have a great network
of relationships with
counselors or pastors for
those who need help.
— Joel Stuzman
We try to bring calm
to chaos because it is
uncommon stuff that
these guys witness.
— Joel Stuzman
Often times, chaplains have
first responder experience,
making it easier for other
first responders to open up,
because they know what
they9ve gone through and
can understand.
<A lot of what we do is
building relationships to
build trust and that comes
from talking with them,=
said Stutzman.
Stutzman teaches a chap-
laincy academy, a new start-
up academy which teaches
some basics on how to work
through stress incidents with
departments.
<We want to look at what
we can do proactively, not
responsively; while there are
healthy tools in place for the
major stuff, we want to look
at the pre-stuff and be proac-
tive about care,= he said.
COVID-19 has had an
effect on certain aspects of
the programs due to the fact
that people are now more cut
off from each other than ever
before.
<One of the best ways to
take care is to connect and
talk with people, but that has
now been diminished,= said
Stutzman.
The training academy and
the peer-support programs
and chaplaincy have been
moved to a more virtual
platform but the work is still
actively taking place, seek-
ing to protect those who pro-
tect the community.