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First responders deserve better

The profound neglect of the mental and emotional needs of fist responders is the ultimate irony

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Symptoms of PTSD include fear, anxiety, irritability, insomnia, unwanted thoughts and more.

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By Lauren Carter

It seems that every day I come into work I become more enlightened about what first responders deal with — and often times, more enraged.

I read articles and see posts by different people, but they all seem to say the same thing; some version of:

  • Very little support through the service or education about ongoing stress management.
  • We see the worst of the worst, and yet we are expected to just “get over it”.
  • Brought to the surface many other traumatic calls that sometimes haunt me.
  • Our EMT classes fail to prepare providers for the emotional stresses of emergency response. We are expected to be “thick-skinned,” which prevents providers from seeking the help they need.

The more I learn about what first responders experience, the more it seems that their mental and emotional needs are profoundly neglected. Which would be the ultimate irony, considering these are the people we entrust to protect and care for others.

It seems like first responders are well-trained in the technical aspects of doing their job, but I am not sure how much, if at all, their training prepares them for the emotional stress and trauma they’ll face.

And when the trauma and stress they experience begins to take a toll — as it surely will for anyone who‘s not a sociopath or a robot — it seems that they’re mostly expected to just get over it and move on.

I also get the sense that many first responders are afraid to ask for help for fear of being seen as weak or possibly endangering their job.

I really hope that I‘m just misinformed, and that there are reliable systems in place to support the mental and emotional needs of first responders, and that we don‘t wait until a firefighter or a paramedic or a police officer dies by suicide to address the emotional impact of the job they do, and that what appears to be a disturbing trend of negligence is actually just a few anomalies in departments that haven‘t quite caught up to the rest of the country.

I really hope we have a better strategy in place to help first responders overcome the trauma they experience as a result of their job than telling them to man up.

Because expecting people to suppress their feelings, to deny their experiences, to hide their pain out of shame or some misguided effort to appear tough or strong would be ludicrous.

Their pain and anguish is not something to be ashamed of; it is merely proof that they are human and that they still have the ability to feel and to empathize. They witness the incomprehensible and the indescribable, day in and day out. They see things on a regular basis that would break the average person. Emotional distress is a natural result of the work they do, and it needs to be properly addressed, not swept under the rug.

It‘s as if we‘re sending these men and women into the proverbial line of fire without a bullet-resistant vest and then expecting them to dust themselves off and continue on like nothing happened after they get shot.

But maybe I‘m wrong. I really hope so.

Because I‘d hate to think that these people who spend their lives protecting and helping and saving you and me every day, rushing towards the things we run away from, tending to us in our worst moments, are walking around wounded themselves, with no one to come and save them.

Uniform Stories features a variety of contributors. These sources are experts and educators within their profession. Uniform Stories covers an array of subjects like field stories, entertaining anecdotes, and expert opinions.
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