Huron Expositor, 2016-06-01, Page 15Wednesday, June 1, 2016 • Huron Expositor 15
Local first responders appeal to council for
critical incident stress management program
Justine Alkema
Postmedia Network
Bluewater firefighter
Kyle Kruse and Central
Huron fire chief Dave Ren-
ner informed both Blue -
water and Central Huron
councils on May 16 about
an issue that many people
don't consider - Post -
Traumatic Stress Disorder
(PTSD) among local
first -responders.
To address this problem,
they proposed implement-
ing a critical incident stress
management program for
the fire departments in
these counties.
"I've been in a lot of situ-
ations that would cause
mental anguish in first
responders," said Kruse.
Kruse told several stories
about PTSD that he has
seen among coworkers. He
talked about some difficult
calls they have had to
respond to, and the experi-
ence of a friend taking his
own life as a result of PTSD.
"It affected everybody,"
said Kruse. "It made a lot of
POLICE BRIEFS AND UPDATES
Solar panel
stolen from ABCA
Huron County Crime Stop-
pers and the Huron County
OPP are asking for your assis-
tance in solving the follow-
ing theft occurrences. Some-
time between May 16-19,
unknown suspects attended
at a monitoring station for the
Ausable Bayfield Conserva-
tion Authority and stole a small
solar panel off of the roof.
This station is situated on Por-
ter's Hill Line, Central Huron.
Power tools
taken from
apartment
Between May 13-16. Unknown
suspects broke into an apart-
ment located on Albert Street,
Clinton. Once inside, they stole
a large quantity of painting
equipment, which included a
red 6" sander, and a blue 6"
sander with the letters "GARF"
engraved on them, a 3" sander
with the initials "RL" engraved
on it and five Devilbiss
model JGA-504 paint guns
Computer
stolen in break
and enter
Huron County Crime Stoppers
and the Huron County OPP are
asking for your assistance in
solving the following break,
enter and theft occurrence.
Sometime overnight on May
9-10, suspects smashed a
window and gained access to
a pig barn located in the vicin-
ity of Huron Street and Gos-
hen Line, South Huron. Once
inside, they ransacked the
office area and stole a com-
puter and a closed-circuit
video system. The total value
of the theft exceeds $500.
Golf tournament
in Seaforth
Huron County Crime Stop-
pers are hosting their 20th
annual golf tournament,
proudly sponsored by Libro
Credit Union, on Saturday,
June 25th, 2016 at the Sea -
forth Golf & Country Club.
There will be a shotgun start
at 1:00, followed by a roast
beef dinner. There are two
hole -in -one contests cour-
tesy of Goderich Hyundai and
at the end of the day two
golfers will leave with a $500
travel gift certificate courtesy
of Ellison Travel and Huron
County Crime Stoppers. Also
included in this fun -filled day
are a putting contest, a silent
auction and prizes! All of this
for just $125! For more infor-
mation on how to register
your foursome or to make a
donation, please visit www.
hc-cs.ca...And remember,
all proceeds stay in Huron
County to help fight crime!
people struggle."
In Ontario in 2014, there
were 27 first responders
and 19 military members
who took their own lives
due to PTSD and critical
incident stress related
issues. In 2015, there were
39 first responders and 12
military members. So far in
2016, there have been 18
first responders and 5 mili-
tary members that have
taken their own lives.
Ontario recently passed
Bill 116 which says if you
are a first responder and
are diagnosed with PTSD, it
is assumed that you have
developed PTSD from your
work. It used to be that you
had to prove you developed
it from work, so now it is
easier for first responders
to gain access to the help
they need.
This bill creates inevita-
ble costs for the municipal-
ity including increasing
WSIB rates, WSIB adminis-
tration costs and help for
those suffering with PTSD.
Earlier prevention costs
may reduce costs in the
long run.
To combat this, the two
men proposed starting up a
local critical incident stress
management program.
This program would be
an intervention protocol
developed for dealing with
traumatic events. This
includes pre -instance edu-
cation, crisis intervention,
family support, referrals to
other resources, defusings
and assisting with
debriefings.
"It's a peer based coun-
selling team," said Kruse.
"It's us leaning on each
other [...] to help prevent
PTSD."
One big part of this
team is to facilitate defus-
ings. A defusing is basi-
cally a group discussion in
the fire hall after a call. It's
getting things off one's
chest sooner rather than
later, which has been
shown to reduce the
chances of developing
PTSD.
Several people at each
hall would be trained to
facilitate a defusing, and
they would only be allowed
to lead one if they were not
at the call that is being dis-
cussed. If the incident is
too traumatic, a debriefing
will be done by a profes-
sional within the week.
The cost for this
includes training the
debriefers at each station
and a small operating
budget which comes to
$1300 per station; there
are four stations in Blue -
water and one station in
Central Huron. They also
asked Bluewater for $350
for Kruser to be trained as
50th'Wedding vinniverrary
Ron & Mary Ryan
Come celebrate with us at an
Open House
Sunday, June 5, 2016
2 -4 p.m.
Knights of Columbus Hall
St. Columban, ON
In lieu of gifts donation ofa nonperishablefood
item to the Food Bank would be appreciated
For/ MOVIE INFORMATION...
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a coordinator. Actually
facilitating the defusings
is completely volunteer
based.
Chief Renner noted that
last year in Central Huron,
there were several severe
traffic accidents.
"The guys didn't know
what to do or where to go,"
said Renner. "Some of
them did suffer from that,
and we're dealing with it
still until this day."
The also noted that
since Central Huron is a
small community, there is
a large chance that the
responder knows the per-
son or has mutual connec-
tions with the person.
Both councils said they
would discuss whether or
not they would fund the
project at the next council
meeting.
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