Thirty-six clinicians and staff from the IAFF Center of Excellence (COE) proved that to better understand someone else’s journey, you need to walk in their shoes – or, in this case, boots.
The team recently took part in Fire Ops 101 at the COE’s Maryland facility, experiencing some of the very challenges IAFF members face on calls every day.
Lauren Kosc, the IAFF’s clinical coordinator of behavioral health programs, highlighted the importance of this experience, and the topnotch team of mental health clinicians and therapists in place at the COE. “They have a lot of choices in where they can work, but they come here to serve those who serve others,” said Kosc. “When clinicians come to the COE, most have limited, if any, experience treating fire rescue personnel in a clinical setting. So, we want them to develop that cultural awareness and appreciation for fire service members as a distinct culture, while also enhancing clinicians’ practical understanding of typical fireground and rescue activities. Today’s simulated exercise helps to give them a small taste of both.”
Participants were organized into two groups, with morning and afternoon training sessions. Under Prince George’s County, MD Local 1619 members and IAFF Behavioral Health staff, clinicians engaged in various real-life scenarios.
“Today, we ran three scenarios. First, participants followed a hose line through a structure while wearing SCBA masks, experiencing the force of the water at the nozzle. The second scenario focused on search and rescue where teams of two in SCBA navigated a smoky environment with fireground sounds to find a victim,” said Mike Wells, vice president of Local 1619 and a member of the 4th District Behavioral Health Committee. “The final scenario involved medical emergencies with teams responding to various cases including trauma, diabetes, and cardiac issues.”
Similar to what fire fighters and emergency medical workers encounter in the field, the teams gathered information from bystanders and assessed patients using familiar equipment. To avoid needless exposure to PFAS chemicals, the training simulations were modified to avoid live fire and keep participants out of firefighting bunker gear.
“I didn’t have expectations about whether or not I would be good at it or scared,” said David Thomas, the facility’s site CEO. “I just took the direction of the lead instructors (Local 1619 members), and they, really were just incredible. There was excellent preparation on the gear’s importance, its uses for rescuing someone from a burning building, and how to safely enter and exit a structure.”
Comparing the teamwork experience to his role in healthcare, Thomas said, “We were on one knee in an uncertain environment and all the distortions that go along with having your face covered, with noise in the room, it’s difficult to express all of your thoughts ahead of time so that your partner, who is behind you and doesn’t see what you see or feel what you feel, can still move through a room in a safe fashion so that we could find a victim if we needed to.”
IAFF COE Family Clinician Darlene Waldt expressed the emotional impact, sharing her frustrations and the challenges of navigating communication under pressure – particularly during search and rescue training.
“It was frustrating because I didn’t get to accomplish the goals that I felt like I wanted to. I wanted to have done X, Y, and Z, and so I kind of felt that frustration that comes when you can’t do the things you want. You kind of had to follow the orders and just do what you need to,” she said. “I also realized how important it is to reset after these experiences and how difficult it can be to go home and interact with my family after such intense situations.”
The hands-on scenarios helped the clinicians to understand what fire fighters face daily; some moments expected, while others were not so cut and dry.
“Today’s a beautiful day, but we don’t always work in beautiful weather. Then, the equipment was working and functioning today, but that’s not always the case,” said Wells. “I think a lot of the participants realize how resilient of a population we already are to be able to do this job and hopefully that will translate into the work they’re doing here at the IAFF Center of Excellence as they take that and those skills back into their everyday life and recovery.”
Clinicians like Waldt say it’s important to use compassion and empathy to better understand the various aspects of a fire fighter’s life.
“These individuals come here after experiencing a lot, and it’s important to understand how they interact with the public,” said Waldt.They need to learn how to reset. I wasn’t even trying to save someone during training and struggled to find them. I can only imagine how challenging it is for them to go home, put on their parent hats, and figure out how to reconnect with their families and the world after everything they’ve been through. It’s tough.”