Oromocto Fire department tackles mental illness

The Oromocto Fire Department's willingness to tackle mental health issues, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, came at a high price.

Thesuicide of a volunteer fighter andformer military sergeant, Paul Martin, in 2011sent a shockwave through the department.

Then, more recently, one of the department's full-time members almost succeeded in taking his life.

Lt.Jerry Poirier is a broad-shouldered, calm-looking firefighter but, just over a year ago, he was falling apart.

"I just existed. My thoughts weren't clear, my work wasn't efficient, I wasn't myself. I was just herephysically, but mentally, I was on the moon," Poirier says.

"It culminated into me ultimately breaking."

Poiriersays he had come through a year and half of hyper-vigilance, caused when he resuscitated his six-month-old son who suddenly stopped breathing one night.

He wasn't sleeping for fearsomething would happen when he wasn't watching. It was the first time he ended up needing help.

But years later, when other things combined to send him into a mental spiral, he didn't recognize it inhimself.

'Yeah, I'm good'

Poirier attempted suicide but fate intervened and hegot help to deal with what he felt was a of problems.

"It's not as if, before I broke, the guys didn't try. My own crew was poking at me, and asking if I was OK,and I kept shoving them aside saying, 'Yeah, I'm good,'" he says.

"No issues here. Just let me be. I hid it fromthem."

Poirier decided to speak out about his recent struggle. He let his bosses and co-workers know what hadhappened.

That disclosure prompted the Oromocto Fire Department to start looking for better ways to help its members spot their own, and their co-workers, problems.

Fire Chief Jody Price started searching for the latest methods to help his members.

He ordered an appfor cellphones and tablets that visually walked them through breathing techniques.

The department brought in local health professionals for biannual days of mental health training. Thetraining included exercises for reducing stress, and breathing techniques to reduce anxiety.

"One thing we did was kept the groups small. So it wasn't like you were in front of a group of 65 people,laying on exercise ball, breathing," said Richard Cummings, the department's deputy chief.

"There were small groups,and we gave them the background information."

Openness helped

Cummings said about a dozen firefighters in the 50-member departmentare accessing some form of mental health assistance.

"So, that's a pretty high percentage," he says.

Cummings says because Poirier was open to talking about the mental health care he was getting,theywere able to bring in the health-care team to help re-integrate Poirier into his crew just four monthslater.

Poirier says hebelieves that having the fire department deal with mental health issues in an open andup front wayhas opened the door to a healthier workplace overall.

"The alpha male stigma here is out the door. We are tough. Our first priority is helping youand takingyou to a safe place in your moment of need," he says.

"When we come back here, that's when we start to processthings for ourselves, and take care of ourselves, and our department has done tremendous things to help us cope with that."

Poirier says the members of the fire department talk more now and ultimately he believes they are a better department for it.

The Tema Conter Memorial Trust Fund says it knows of 39 first responder suicides in 2015, four so far thisyear.

It says it gathers its statistics through news reports, and direct reporting to the organization.