By JoAnne Young
The Lincoln Journal Star
LINCOLN, Neb. — It took a lot of debate to get to the end result, but senators advanced a bill to final reading Tuesday by a wide margin that would give post-traumatic stress treatment benefits to the state’s first responders.
| Treating Responders as Equals By Art Hsieh, EMS1 Editorial Advisor For as long as I can remember the relationship between volunteer and career personnel in our profession has been stormy. Stories like this one unfortunately highlight the issues surrounding the references; while I don’t know the back story to the proposed amendment, it seems odd that there would be effort to make a distinction of coverage for stress benefits between those who volunteer their time to provide service, and those who are paid to do so. I can’t imagine what the difference would be when being involved in a highly dramatic, stressful event or series of stressors. I’m not saying that there shouldn’t be a discussion about the merits or need of providing EMS in a volunteer or paid capacity. In fact I think that the discussion is long overdue and needs to be done logically, with research and data to back up the discourse, not emotions, bias and mere opinion. But in this case, implying that one group of providers is somehow any less involved or affected by stress on the job would be unusual, to say the least. Let’s hope the bill makes it through the its final reading treating all emergency responders as equals when it comes to the job of protecting the public. Art Hsieh, MA, NREMT-P, is Chief Executive Officer & Education Director of the San Francisco Paramedic Association, a published author of EMS textbooks and a national presenter on clinical and education subjects. |
The bill (LB780), sponsored by Omaha Sen. Steve Lathrop, was amended to end in 2014.
But senators rejected attempts to make the bill apply only to volunteer responders, to limit benefits to 26 weeks and to limit any resulting death benefits to under one year.
The bill would provide workers’compensation coverage for post-traumatic stress for police, firefighters and emergency medical technicians, both volunteer and paid.
Most of Tuesday’s discussion on the bill centered around its cost, even though an official estimate showed it would cost less than $8,000 a year. A number of senators indicated they didn’t believe the estimate.
As debate went on, some senators who supported the bill got more agitated.
Sen. Abbie Cornett of Bellevue, a former police officer, said Omaha Sen. John Nelson’s amendment to have the bill apply only to volunteers was one of the “least thought out"this year.
He had offered an amendment that would benefit his city to the detriment of the rest of the state, Cornett said, or because a lobbyist had written it out and handed it to him.
What happened to equity, she asked, and treating everyone with some respect?
Nelson denied anyone else had written the amendment.
“I think it’s a bona fide amendment that merits consideration,” he said.
Lincoln Sen. Danielle Conrad criticized Omaha Sen. Beau McCoy for bringing an amendment that called for compensating dependents if a first responder died within one year after a traumatic incident causing mental injury or mental illness.
Conrad took the amendment to mean McCoy was not willing to give first responders treatment for post-traumatic stress, but if they committed suicide as a result their dependents would get benefits.
“That is ludicrous,” she said."And that is offensive.”
McCoy denied his intent was to not provide treatment. He said he merely was trying to put “guard rails” on the benefit and make it more like those of other states.
Conrad was unconvinced.
“He should apologize for this to first responders,” she said.
Lathrop said very few first responders would use the benefits. For those who needed it, treatment would be cheaper for communities than not offering the treatment.
First responders are one of our communities’ most important resources, he said.
“They deserve care when they can’t get over something they have seen,” he said.
The bill advanced on a 38-5 vote.
Copyright 2010 Lincoln Journal Star