Mental well-being app will assist first responders
While the typical person may have a handful of traumatic experiences in a lifetime, law enforcement officers see an average of about 188 critical incidents throughout their careers, studies of large and small departments have shown.
Those critical incidents can stack up over time, resulting in so much stress that it can cause high rates of heart disease, depression, anxiety and other ailments, experts say.
But soon, first responders across Bexar County will have an app they can turn to anonymously to find the mental and physical health resources they need.
“We believe that this was something of urgency that we needed to provide for our first responder families,” said Richard Miller, the president of the nonprofit 100 Club of San Antonio. “We see this as really a lifelong resource.”
The 100 Club of San Antonio committed $500,000 to customizing and distributing the wellness and resiliency app to an estimated 8,000 first responders in the area and their families, Miller said, including the San Antonio Police Department, the Bexar
Sheriff's Office and smaller law enforcement agencies and fire departments within the county.
The app recently was purchased by the San Antonio Fire Department for its personnel.
The customized app will provide an array of resources, such as tools and a list of agencies and organizations to help officials with their marriages, parenting, finances, anxiety, depression, alcohol abuse, trauma and other aspects of their lives. Both national and local services will be included in the app.
“Whatever issue you're dealing with, you'll find a pathway to deal with it in the app,” said David Black, the founder and CEO of Cordico, the company that developed it.
The 100 Club started seeking out technology last year that could help reduce stress for first responders and signed a four-year contract with Cordico in November. Funding for the SAFD app was approved in December.
Cordico, a Californiabased technology company, creates a customized mobile app for each agency it serves. The Houston Police Department, as well as agencies in San Franscico, Seattle, Memphis and Minneapolis already use it, Black said.
Miller said the anonymity promised by the app potentially could encourage people to seek help who otherwise might not have done so.
“I think there may be a hesitancy to reach out to the department first because it is their place of employment,” Miller said.
The SAFD cited anonymity as one of its reasons for purchasing the customized app.
Cordico expects to launch the Bexar County app before March.