Firefighter Close Calls

Home of the Secret List

WV BILL FOR PTSD WORKERS COMP CLEARS COMMITTEE

 Brian Kazmierzak    March 19, 2021    No Comments

CHARLESTON — For the fifth time in as many years, a bill to permit first responder agencies to offer workers’ compensation benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder is heading to the West Virginia House of Delegates floor.

House Bill 3107 unanimously passed the Judiciary Committee on Thursday after passing the fire departments and emergency medical services subcommittee Wednesday. The bill permits agencies like fire, police or emergency services departments to offer workers’ compensation benefits to their first responders.

The bill, championed by Del. Chad Lovejoy, D-Cabell, passed the House last year but died in the Senate. This year’s bill differs in that it is not mandatory that departments offer this benefit. There have been fears that smaller departments may not be able to afford the added benefit, so HB 3107 allows them to decide if it is right for them.

Currently, workers’ compensation is only available if this PTSD diagnosis is connected to a bodily injury.

During the Judiciary Committee meeting, there was some confusion over whether the bill applied to all first responders or just EMS, leading Del. Ty Nestor, R-Randolph, to apologize for his remarks. Nestor had said he believed it was bad policy to carve out an exemption for one group of workers, adding that “they know what they sign up for.” Upon realizing the bill covers all first responders, Nestor changed his mind.

But his comments sparked passionate remarks from other delegates, including Lovejoy and former sheriff Del. David Kelly, R-Tyler.

Kelly said first responders never know what they sign up for. In the 1980s and ’90s, he said, trauma wasn’t talked about and first responders self-medicated.

“I self-medicated just to get through,” Kelly said. “This destroys relationships. It destroys families. It destroys lives. I can go for months and it seems like everything is OK. Something can trigger it. It can be a smell, a picture; it can be a television show. It can be lights and sirens. Sometimes it doesn’t take anything.”

Lovejoy explained the bill came about after the funeral of Huntington firefighter Chris Coleman. Coleman died by suicide two weeks after returning to work when his benefits ran out. His diagnosis came after responding to many fatal overdoses, including one that carried a personal connection.

“We say we ‘back the blue’ and we get in photos with them when we can, but then we let them die,” Lovejoy said.

In a study published in the Journal of Emergency Medical Services, researchers found that EMS workers in the United States were about 10 times more likely to have suicidal ideations and/or attempt suicide compared to the CDC national average. Firefighters are also at higher risk for suicide, with one nationwide study finding 46% of firefighters had suicidal ideations.

For West Virginia first responders, the substance use disorder epidemic has made an already difficult job harder. And the pandemic has exacerbated the problem, with fatal overdoses and deaths at home increasing in 2020.

If you or someone you love is struggling with thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK to be connected with support 24/7.

 Behavior Health

Also check the most current issue of THE SECRET
LIST
(Click Here)

Sign Up for Secret List

For Email Newsletters you can trust.

Please Visit
Our Sponsor

GordonGraham.com


YOU NEED THIS BOOK!
(Trust Us)

400+ PAGES.
90+ CONTRIBUTORS!
100% of the royalties from the sales of "PASS IT ON" will be donated to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and the Chief Ray Downey Scholarship Fund.
CLICK ABOVE TO ORDER YOUR COPIES TODAY!


 

Pass It On: The Second Alarm

BillyG-book-170



Posters

Click to Print

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Apparatus
    • Crashes
    • Struck By
  • Close Calls
  • Contact Us
  • Drills
  • FIRE & EMS CIVIL DISORDER
  • EMS Close Calls
  • Fire Communications
  • Firefighter Cancer
  • Firefighter History
  • Firefighter Staffing
  • Gallery
  • LODD Calendar
  • Modern Fire Behavior
  • NIOSH Lessons Learned
  • NIOSH LODD Reports
  • Pass It On
  • Behavior Health
    • Behavior Health Resources
    • Behavior Health Information
  • Safety and Survival
  • Secret List
  • SOG’s
Submit Your
CLOSE CALLS /
NEAR MISS

 

LODD STATS

YearTotals
202141
202096
201957
201885
201793
201689
201586
201494
2013101
201283
201181
201087
200993
2008118
2007118
Tweets by @alertpage

Search Site

In Memory Of

fdnyClick this patch

Contact Info

Email BillyG
info@firefighterclosecalls.com

Email Weekly Drill
Suggestions to

Drills@firefighterclosecalls.com

helmet

ragusa

Click Here for The 9/11 Widows’ and Victims’ Families Association

ssc

Click Here: Skyscraper Safety Campaign


Copyright © 2003-2021

Copyright Disclaimer: This non-commercial, non-profit and free use website is for the exclusive purpose of firefighter safety, health and survival. All photographs in these posts are either submitted or from aggregate Google and are used in the postings for the purposes of education, satire, and parody, criticism, news reporting, research, and scholarship consistent with 17 USC §107 and never due to intentional or malicious misuse of a copyright.