News 11 Exclusive: Accepting the Aftermath

Accepting the aftermath, for most of us , means coming home from work a little more tired than yesterday.

For many first responders, however , accepting the aftermath of their day comes with memories or tragedy, smelling of blood, and dreaming of death.

Some remember certain calls like it was just yesterday.

Fourteen years ago, former Yuma police officer Gregory Fell made a choice, a choice that he has not forgotten to this day.

“All of the times I’ve drawn my weapon never shot it, but I’ve drawn it like a zillion times. This night, I’m just going, this isn’t good, I don’t even see Mr. Nunez draw, all the sudden he’s just shooting, and then I just reacted to the shooting, and still to this day, I remember my shell in slow motion, like those war pictures, I remember one of my shell casings going out of the gun,” said Fell.

Over time, this reality of trauma can place a heavy toll on the mental and physical health of first responders.

As a result, post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, can occur which David Padilla Jr., FireStrong.org coordinator, knows full well.

“Often people think of alcohol and drugs, but it’s not always that obvious it’s not always that credible irritability change in behavior some things that one’s interest our guys no longer interested them, there’s a number of small subtle changes that we are looking for we often tell her members that our spouses will be the ones that will recognize the changes,” Padilla said.

Several symptoms of PTSD can include flashbacks, emotional numbness, worry, avoidance of people, being on edge, and even addictions to drugs or alcohol.

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), it is estimated that 30 percent of first responders develop behavioral health conditions such as PTSD.

This is compared with 20 percent in the general population.

Traumatic incidents can come in many forms of calls, often facing danger , and draining situations that require them to perform physical or even emotional support for victims.

“After that, the next weeks and months to follow you were very hesitant, and you were very suspicious of people. You felt anyone could be armed and would try to shoot me,” Fell said as he remembered the shooting incident.

These responsibilities, though essential for a community, are strenuous on first responders and can increase their risk of trauma.

Most often, a traumatic event is described as one in which we experience a threat of death or injury to self or others.

So what does a first responder do to deal with these traumatic events they see every day?

An obvious answer may be to have them seek the help of their peers or a professional.

However, seeking help requires acknowledging the problem, which often does not come easily to some firefighters, EMT’s, police and paramedics.

“I think in years past, that was a big concern you’re always concerned that you didn’t want to seem like the guy that couldn’t handle the calls and so over the years we’ve really had a culture change. There’s been a number of culture changes that the biggest baddest firefighter used to be with the guy with the dirtiest helmet and the dirtiest gear, the same as that culture has changed. We’ve noticed that the culture of safety has also changed within the fire service. So it’s no longer acceptable to bottle it up inside. Our guys are checking on them we have great company officers that come after calls and say, ‘hey are you doing okay? Let’s talk about it’. We want them to be aware that there are resources there when they are ready if they need it,” Padilla said.

“Like a cop always has to be tough, can never cry. A cop has to be always professional, I just believe we should all be normal whether the uniform is on us or not,” Fell said.

According to SAMHSA, 69 percent of EMS professionals don’t have enough time to recover between traumatic events.

“Over the last couple years , we’ve learned that it’s not just the big calls, it’s not just major incidences drownings and things like that, but rather the cumulative effect of just day in day out stressors. Our guys run a lot of calls and we are often expecting ambulances to run from the hospital to the next call, back to the hospital, to the next call without eating because we’re busy. That stress, just the small stress of not getting a meal that adds to it,” Padilla said.

First responders generally are pressured to uphold and operate in a culture that achieves an image of mental invincibility.

First responders also often desensitize traumatic calls as a coping mechanism.

There is a fear, that admission of struggle will indicate they are not up to the job.

Even worse than facing the effects of PTSD, is ignoring the signs.

According to the National Alliance of Mental Illness, “approximately 1 in 5 adults in the U.S.–43.8 million, or 18.5%–experiences mental illness in a given year”

According to research done by the American Psychiatric Association, people who have experienced prior trauma, are more vulnerable to PTSD than those who haven’t.

This is especially significant for first responders considering the traumatic events they experience every day.

Encouragingly, there are many healthy ways for first responders to deal with trauma.

This includes programs that are available within their own department.

” The Fire Strong program is a resource tool that we developed that offers firefighters a centralized location to go get resources and information about everything from posttraumatic stress, sleep deprivation, heart health and a bunch of other topics that help build better firefighters,” Padilla said

As a first responder, you must accept the aftermath, but know you won’t always have to do it alone.

If you are a first responder in need of help, you can ask your employer for the resources they have available.

The Fire Strong program is also open to firefighters in surrounding areas in need of resources to help fight post-traumatic stress disorder.