Calgary Herald

First responders call for an end to job stigma

Firefighte­r shares his story about a tragic crash that led to his downward spiral

- CAMILLE BAINS

Eighteen years as a firefighte­r had exposed Greg Gauthier to endless trauma, but a call involving a tour bus hitting a family triggered his descent into mental illness, as intrusive thoughts and sleepless nights became his daily existence.

Gauthier, 48, could no longer function at work, but the stigma of asking for help in a job where chaos is the norm initially prevented him from reaching out.

“I knew something was wrong right after that call,” he said of the August 2017 incident when an American man died and three others were injured as a bus rolled into a crowd of tourists, pinning at least two people beneath the vehicle.

Gauthier said it wasn’t the most horrific situation he’d encountere­d, but it was the one that broke him emotionall­y.

Over and over again, he would relive the scene of people taking cellphone video of the crash scene as police dealt with a horde of visitors near a busy cruise-ship terminal and convention centre. Gauthier’s family life began to unravel and he felt helpless.

“When you don’t have control of your mind and when you can’t block those thoughts then you feel like you’re losing control and it’s an incredibly distressin­g feeling,” he said. “I’m still dealing with it a year and a half later, but I’m certainly managing it.”

Gauthier finally realized that as a supervisor he had to set an example for the rest of his crew at a Vancouver fire hall, so colleagues who had also been at the scene and others like it could feel free to talk about their struggles in a job that required them to soldier on dayafter-day.

“There’s a stigma and we’re trying to break that down,” he said as he prepared to share his experience and gradual return to work at a conference of first responders meeting in Richmond, B.C., on Thursday and Friday.

About 350 people — including firefighte­rs, police officers, paramedics and dispatcher­s, as well as their unions and associatio­ns — are taking part in the event that will feature Gauthier and others in occupation­s where trauma is part of the job, but talking about its effect is not.

Gauthier said he wondered if he’d have to prove himself all over again if he took time off, if he’d put the “brotherhoo­d and sisterhood” of his job at risk.

“Part of my healing, part of my therapy, is talking about it,” he said, adding he got counsellin­g. When he returned to work after five months he didn’t initially go out on calls, worked shorter days and slowly exposed himself to the rigours of the job, including driving past the accident scene that led to his breakdown.

WorkSafeBC, the provincial workers’ health and safety agency, brought together a committee of 14 first responder agencies that organized the conference.

Trudi Rondou, senior manager of industry and labour services for WorkSafeBC, said the goal is to work toward dismantlin­g the stigma of mental illness suffered by those who focus on protecting public safety, but often need help themselves to cope with extraordin­ary stress.

The key to getting that help is a commitment from employers to put prevention, peer-support and return-to-work programs in place, she said.

“We did some research among first responders and that was one thing we clearly heard, that this has to be a culture change and we need to make sure our leaders are invested in this, not only with their words but with the budget and action behind it.”

Otherwise, the costs range from low productivi­ty, a high number of sick days and the potential for long-term disability from post-traumatic stress disorder, Rondou said.

Last year, the British Columbia government amended legislatio­n allowing first responders — including emergency medical assistants, firefighte­rs, police officers, sheriffs and correction­al officers — to make WorkSafeBC claims for compensati­on and health-care support if they’d been diagnosed with a mental health disorder, without having to prove it was related to their work.

Greg Anderson, dean of applied research at the Justice Institute of B.C., said most provinces have similar legislatio­n, but coverage for first-responder jobs varies.

In Nova Scotia, for example, emergency-room nurses are included in so-called presumptiv­e legislatio­n, while some provinces have coverage for post-traumatic stress injury and others only accept claims for post-traumatic stress disorder, Anderson said.

Last June, the federal government adopted presumptiv­e legislatio­n to combat post-traumatic stress disorder experience­d by federal first responders, including employees of the RCMP, the Correction­al Service of Canada and those in enforcemen­t roles for Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

On Wednesday, Conservati­ve MP Todd Doherty, who had introduced the bill, asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during question period why the government had not yet acted on the legislatio­n to develop a national action strategy.

“This spring we will be moving forward with the plan to fight PTSD that the minister of Public Safety and Security will put forward,” Trudeau said.

 ??  ?? Vancouver firefighte­r Greg Gauthier talked to 350 first responders from B.C. at a conference about how responding to a crash in August 2017 triggered his emotional collapse after 18 years of witnessing traumatic incidents.
Vancouver firefighte­r Greg Gauthier talked to 350 first responders from B.C. at a conference about how responding to a crash in August 2017 triggered his emotional collapse after 18 years of witnessing traumatic incidents.

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