HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2016-10-26, Page 34Lucan Community Memorial Centre
263 Main St. Lucan, ON
34 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Critical Incident Stress Management Program changing the culture of local fire departments
Justine Alkema
The Critical Incident
Stress Management Pro-
gram is changing the way
that five local
fire departments handle
traumatic experiences at
their job.
COMMUNITY
OPEN HOUSE
Vanastra Christian
Reformed Church
Oct 30th, 2016 from 2-4 p.m.
Short program at 3:00 p.m.
An opportunity for you to
welcome the family
recently arrived from Syria
Sponsored by
the Tuckersmith
Resettlement Committee
MURRAY AND OLENE DENNIS
WERE MARRIED
OCTOBER 27, 1956
Meals on Wheels Goes Country!
Are you interested in having meals
delivered right to your door? We are
developing RURAL routes in Huron.
Call for information!
Hot Meals to Your Door
• Lunch time meals
• Delivered right to your door
• Homemade, fresh prepared
• Salad, entree, dessert
Frozen Meals also available to your door
• Choose from a wide variety of soups, entrees, desserts
Hca re
1-877-502-8277
www.onecares u pport.ca
With suppony
•-rrrr•;r.a.�rrr.,r.!, from the Ontario
".cue +tis=+tai Trillium Foundation
ONE CARE - Huron & Perth Counties' local community health care provider
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A story came out in the
Clinton News Record in May
about the program after it
had just received funding
from council.
Now, the program is being
implemented.
"It's a major culture
change for us," said Kyle
Kruse, a Bayfield firefighter
who was instrumental in
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THE ROYAL CANADIAN LEGION
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REMEMBRANCE and
AWARDS DINNER
Saturday, November 5
Cocktails 6pm. Dinner 7pm
ANNUAL CHURCH
SERVICE
Sunday, November 6
The Branch will gather at
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 11am
(no marching will take place)
FRIDAY,
NOVEMBER 11
REMEMBRANCE DAY
PARADE & SERVICE
10:30am
Parade to Cenotaph from Legion
11 am — Service at Cenotaph
If weather is inclement service
will be held in the upstairs hall.
Following the service the parade
will return to the Legion Hall for
comradeship and entertainment.
The support of the public for these annual
events will be appreciated
SEAFORTH BRANCH 156
ROYAL CANADIAN LEGION
JOE STEFFLER PAT DEJONG
Poppy Chairman President
introducing the program to
the area.
This program is an inter-
vention protocol that
includes pre -instance edu-
cation, crisis intervention,
family support, referrals to
other resources, defusings
and assisting with debrief-
ings, all with the goal of
reducing PTSD in first
responders.
One big part of this pro-
gram is defusings. A defus-
ing is basically a group dis-
cussion in the fire hall after
a particularly difficult call.
It's getting things off one's
chest sooner rather than
later, which has been
shown to reduce the
chances of developing
PTSD.
"It's a conversation about
what they saw and what they
did," said Kruse.
Kruse said it's a culture
change because it was tradi-
tionally accepted by those in
the industry that difficult
experiences were a part of
the job, and they should
"suck it up" and not talk
about it.
"That isn't acceptable
anymore," said Kruse. Kruse
said that while working as a
firefighter in London, their
department had several
responders diagnosed with
PTSD; one responder even
took their own life a result of
PTSD. After that, they
implemented a similar pro-
gram in London that has
been running for over 15
years.
So far in 2016, there have
been 18 first responders
and 5 military members
that have taken their own
lives. These trends have
brought a lot of attention
to the problem, and
departments all over
Ontario and beyond are
moving towards providing
programs such as this for
first responders.
On the weekend of Sep-
tember 24-25, several peo-
ple from each of the
departments in Howick,
Central Huron, Bluewater,
Huron East and South
Huron attended a training
weekend in Bayfield to
learn how to facilitate
defusings.
The program has been in
place for only a few weeks,
and they have already had to
have a couple defusings.
Although the program has
been very well accepted by
the responders, Kruse said
it's an adjustment.
"It's sometimes tough for
the guys to know how to talk
about it."
Kruse said that before
implementing the program,
he gave a presentation at
each fire hall to tell them
about the changes that
would be happening.
"I had arguments set up
for the sceptics," said Kruse,
in case he got any push back
about the idea. "But I didn't
have to use them at all.
Instead, they said, `It's about
time:"
Kruse said that traumatic
incidents happen quite
often, and it isn't always the
"big stories': He said it might
be that a guy calls through a
floor or a ceiling falls, and it
scares the men knowing how
much worse it could have
been.
Kyle couldn't say how
often they use defusings,
"but I can tell you that it gets
used a lot; he said.
P THEATRE :a�. a 4
GODERICH 519 524 761i
FOR MOVIE IlNFORh9ATION...
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Friday November 4, 4pm-8pm
Saturday November 5, l0am-4pm
Sunday November 6, llam-4pm
Admission- Adults $2.00
Children 12 & under FREE
Over 70 Vendors * Unique Items * Door Prizes
Refreshments & Lunch Available
For more information call
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