The county’s Critical Incident Stress Management team, a group of emergency workers from various agencies coordinated by the county’s Department of Public Safety, is incorporating direct online access to clinical counseling.
The system is run by On the Job and Off, a company that offers support services for first responders and is based in Harrisburg, although it operates across the U.S. and Canada.
The county commissioners authorized a $49,320 contract with the company in November for up to 300 hours of clinician time over a period of up to five years, according to county Director for Public Safety Bob Shively.
“Any organization’s greatest asset is its people,” Shively said. “Investing in their mental health and wellness is crucial in providing the best quality services to our county.”
The CISM program already coordinates peer support between emergency services personnel, including law enforcement, firefighters, EMS and others, to deal with the stresses and trauma of the job. Having professional counseling on hand will enhance that.
“We discovered that some people need a little bit more,” said Mike Snyder, a county 911 dispatcher and firefighter who serves as the head of the CISM team. “This should give our people the tools they need.”
On the Job and Off provides a number of services to first responders with regard to mental health and morale. The program was developed by company founder Ali Rothrock, a veteran first responder herself.
In developing the program, “I was really focusing on what I knew I didn’t have” when starting out in the field, Rothrock said.
For many first responders, the uncertainty of dealing with people in crisis day in and day out, with limited knowledge of their lives’ outcomes, can be wearing.
“It’s kind of like watching a TV show where you only get five minutes to watch in the middle,” Snyder said.
The sheer workload can be overwhelming. Demand for emergency services has risen faster than Cumberland County’s comparatively high rate of population growth would suggest. Just as the county was seeing a gradual decline in opioid deaths after a peak in 2017, the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
“I know it’s almost trite to say that first responders are on the front lines, but they are coming face-to-face with both of these crises,” County Commissioner Gary Eichelberger said.
Nowhere has that been more pronounced than in EMS, where Snyder said overall EMS dispatches in the county have risen 23% from 2019 to 2021, driven by the pandemic.
“The last quarter [of 2021], two of those months were our busiest ever as an EMS agency,” Nathan Harig, assistant chief at Cumberland Goodwill EMS, told The Sentinel following Tuesday’s announcement.
In addition to COVID-19 cases themselves, increased demand for ambulance services has been driven by people delaying other types of medical care due to the pandemic, Harig said. Patients tend to be sicker and in more serious condition now versus two years ago.
“You go to work, you’re surrounded by the pandemic. Then you go home, and you’re still surrounded by the pandemic,” Harig said. “We’ve seen a definite uptick in the number of providers who desire these mental health services. We really appreciate the county taking on this extra program. They have a great support team.”
Email Zack at zhoopes@cumberlink.com.
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