KAUKAUNA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A new suicide awareness program, Master Resiliency Training, is specifically designed for emergency medical service workers.
Emergency responders said scene safety is what they prepare for, but the greater risk is actually suicide.
“People don’t really know what you’re dealing with unless you’re there, you’ve seen it, you’ve been there,” Kaukauna Fire Department Assistant Chief Chad Gerrits said. “You know, little kid deaths and suicides. There’s a ton of it.”
Barb Bigalke is the founder of the Center for Suicide Awareness in Kaukauna. She announced the program the same week the 988 hotline was launched.
The training will take place both virtually and in various physical locations. Bigalke said the goal is to reduce the stigma that experiencing trauma is just a part of the job.
“First responders need to have these conversations,” she said. “We can’t have the assumption that everything’s okay, and they can just go from one thing to the next and it not affect them.”
Gerrits said the program will address the traumatic part of the job that many people don’t realize.
“Eventually, it does start weighing on a person after years and years of doing it,” he said. “I’ve been doing it 20 years, so it’s a long time of a lot of tragedy.”
Bigalke said similar programs have been happening on a smaller scale over the last two years, but the new one is more widespread. The program will allow EMS workers to talk with each other. Eight hundred EMS workers can participate, and many have already expressed interest.
“A lot of great feedback saying, ‘You know what, this is needed,’” Bigalke said. “Or some of the people that have retired from the profession saying, ‘I wish I would’ve had this when I was in the profession.’”
The Center is planning its first training session for mid-September.
