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The gruesome toll on Chicago paramedics

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Illinois

* I’m coming late to this August 7th Phil Kadner column, but it’s still most definitely worth a read today…

Twelve people were killed and 71 shot in Chicago over the weekend. More than 1,700 people have been shot so far this year. And almost every time, Chicago paramedics are on the scene trying to save lives.

When a man used a knife to nearly decapitate the head of his 2-year-old son, Chicago paramedics responded.

At every horrific traffic accident, each time a teenager overdoses on heroin, when a baby is physically abused, or someone’s flesh is burned in a fire, the paramedics are there trying to save a life.

Yet, to my amazement, nobody has ever done a study of the toll taken by the stress on their lives.

There is no medically trained mental health expert (psychiatrist or psychologist) employed full-time by the Chicago Fire Department to monitor their well-being.

As one field supervisor told me, there is no mandatory class, no significant training, to help paramedics identify the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or help supervisors deal with people suffering from such symptoms.

“I tell them to take the day off and go home,” said Patrick Fitzmaurice, a Chicago paramedic field chief who supervises nine ambulances and 18 people.

“I need some training in not only how to identify people who may be suffering from PTSD, but what to say to them,” he said. “We need to have a plan to deal with this and there is absolutely no plan.”

As Frank Crossin, coordinator of the fire department union assistance program, told me, “We were all required to take a four-hour class on how to put out a pallet fire when I was in the department, but there were no mandatory classes like that on PTSD.”

Go read the whole thing.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Aug 13, 18 @ 2:02 pm

Comments

I investigated fatalities for the state and when I complained about the stress they told me to contact my union.

Comment by Anon Monday, Aug 13, 18 @ 2:05 pm
People’s emotional well-being is neglected in general. Lots of focus on workplace safety and physical health but mental health is an afterthought more often than not. We should care; if not for humanitarian reasons then because of the increased cost caused by absenteeism, turnover, addiction, etc.

Comment by Cubs in '16 Monday, Aug 13, 18 @ 2:17 pm
true heroes. and too often harassed, including shot at, when they try to do their work. they deserve support. lots of people doing horrible things to others. way more than police interactions.

Comment by Amalia Monday, Aug 13, 18 @ 2:31 pm
Mental health has always been the last to be given a priority. In some ways, we are still in the 1040s and don’t understand the profound and costly impact of not treating mental health as being just as important as treating a heart condition.

Comment by Give Me A Break Monday, Aug 13, 18 @ 2:53 pm
First responders work in the world’s worst sandbox. I hope they can get most of it off them before they get home. Mental health (in the form of self-care) is just as important as physical health.

Comment by Jocko Monday, Aug 13, 18 @ 3:28 pm
The son of a friend of mine who flew medical evacuation flights in Afghanistan told me his son had told him that he had “seen enough blood for a lifetime.”

I image the same can be said for many Chicago paramedics.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Aug 13, 18 @ 5:14 pm