Shannon H. Pennington
firefighterveteran.com
26 Year Career Firefighter I.A.F.F.

Everyone Goes Home® Life Initiative 13: Firefighters and their families must have access to counseling and psychological support.

Stress, Job Stress, Job Burn Out, Acute Stress Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress: What is it? What can we do about it? What can be done to reduce its impact on our physical, as well as, emotional outlook? We need to begin the run and manage ourselves through active service careers and balance out the negative impact that stress has on us.

To full-time professional or volunteer firefighters the "s" word happens quite often on the front lines. (Thanks Forrest Gump...we needed that). The other word that begins with "s" is "STRESS". What does it mean to family and friends who support our efforts on the front lines of America? How can we help ourselves and how can we help others to understand the "drama and the trauma" of the psychological consequences involved with "the most dangerous of professions?"

Help is currently being developed, along with an active information highway, about the subject of stress in the American Fire Service. The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation has partnered with the North American Fire Fighter Veterans Network to get the stress message out.

The website firefighterveteran.com is designed to address the educational component of the Everyone Goes Home® Firefighter Life Safety Initiative #13 (Mental Health and Wellness). This site focuses on prevention before a stress exposure triggers traumatic wounding in you, the firefighter on the front lines.

It is true that firefighters can kick locomotives off the track, and jump over tall buildings when they roll out onto the street, but, the aftermath of serious traumatic exposure can cause emotional shock waves that can take the fight out of the firefighter. Any time you step into your bunker gear and strap on an air pack, you have the potential to be exposed to smoke, heat, and gasses formed from an "emotional backdraft." It can flashover in the memory of the event and take you out of the front lines and put you into a downward spiral away from the job.

Getting connected and staying connected to not just the physical, but to mental health and wellness, the other fitness needed for the "toughest job in the world, is vital. It will give you, the "front line firefighter" the staying power to keep fighting the good fight for all the right reasons. The information is online for you and your family.

Having a pre-plan when, not if, stress invades your bunker gear and penetrates your Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to the basement of your heart and soul, makes sound "firefighter common sense."

Firefighterveteran.com is a website designed to be a "go to" resource for firefighters, as well as, any family member who wants information on how to cope with the aftermath of stress. The website is available just like you, online 24/7/365.

On the front page you will find a message for all "First Responders" from a Canadian Lt. Governor who carries the scars from childhood polio. His message is, "Not all wounds are visible". There is a video link to FDNY firefighter veteran Jimmy Brown who survived with emotional wounding on 9/11, along with his message about the "Real Men Real Depression" campaign from National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The spring 2008 E-newsletter talks about the "suicide of a firefighter veteran" and what to look for. The winter E-newsletter talks about what stress is for us, written by a former firefighter in Germany writes about his experience as a volunteer and how he looks at stress in the fire service.

"F.I.R.S.T. S.T.E.P. H.O.P.E." is one of many tools on the website that can help you through the drama and trauma of sorting out the who, what, when, where, why and how of " your positive or negative reactions."

Eduation about firefighter stress will reduce the negative impact stress has on firefighters. It will require vigilance, patience and wisdom by listening to those who have lived the life and the lifestyle of the profession. We will begin to use all of the tools in the tool box, including regular updates as information becomes current.

In closing, I can see being out there on the speakers rounds, on a dedicated bus tour to talk with as many of you as possible. Firefighters need to open up the inch-and-a-half between our heads and our hearts and reduce the back pressure that negative stress causes us to experience. Dialogue and education, as well as, collaborative effort will change the outcomes. Let's all get on the bus and move forward on the information highway.

Think about it. Everyone Goes Home® When you get home remember to take your boots off before you walk in the door. If you carry the job with you through that door, de-con as soon as you can. Your family and friends are your refuge and re-hab zone. Keep yourself and those you care about safe.

Look for more information on Initiative 13 this December in the Everyone Goes Home® Newsletter!