HASTINGS, Neb. (KSNB) – It’s Mental Health Awareness Month, and one emergency service is providing help to make sure their employees have an outlet. Hastings Fire and Rescue Chaplain Program is designed to give firefighters a mental outlet after a traumatizing call. The chaplain will will be alongside firefighters and EMS responders on a call.
The goal is to reduce suicide rates among firefighters. According to the U.S. Fire Administration, firefighter suicide rates are 18 per 100,000, compared to the general public which is 13 per 100,000.
“It’s very important because of the mental stress they go through,” said Eddie Goff, chaplain for Hastings Fire and Rescue. “It’s important for them to have someone they can talk to, you know, other than a spouse or a child. You don’t want to take these things, they see home with you. So it’s very important that they have someone they can just sit and talk with and have a donut with a cup of coffee and just be able to download the things that they’ve seen.”
Goff said the chaplain program also received a grant for the Sunshine Foundation, which helped with paying for uniforms and national membership in the the National Chaplaincy Program. It also provided them the experience of what emergency responders go through.
“The grant that we received from the Sunshine Foundation was big help in our training,” Goff said. “As a chaplain core, we go with other chaplains in Omaha, Lincoln and we do training on specifics on how to come along and help our fireman.”
During his training, Goff listens to testimonies from multiple emergency responders to help him relate to the trauma firefighters may encounter.
“We also meet some firemen, firefighters, EMS that have been through some tragedies; and they shared with us what it was that helped them,” Goff Said. “So listening to them, what it was that helped through that training that has helped us to know how our firemen think.”
Several firefighters see the chaplain program as a valuable resource.
“I guess it kind of makes it easier to live with,” said Tanner Cline, Firefighter/EMT at Hastings Fire and Rescue. “It keeps you from keeping it bunched up, which is the worst thing that you can do. Because then you dwell on it and constantly think about it, and you gotta get that stuff out. You gotta talk to somebody.”
Cline said he has noticed some of his coworkers return as a different person after talking to the chaplain about a tough call. The chaplain also has his own way to keep himself mentally prepared to help firefighters.
“One of my straights is my faith,” Goff Said. “You know I’m also a pastor here in town, so it’s my faith. I take one day a month, I have my mental health day. I meet with eight other preachers and we download with each other, just some things that we’ve seen. So that helps me to stay sharp.”
Goff said being able to lean on the Lord helps him deal with the things firefighters see.