The Saint Lucia Fire Service fire chief Ditney Downes shares his concern for the mental well-being of responding officers.
He notes that the Saint Lucia Fire Service has a younger task force between the ages of 24-25 who are exposed to gruesome crime scenes which can cause a physiological toll.
The fire chief says an in-house counselor is needed to debrief emergency responders.
“We have persons providing basic counseling services after these traumatic events however we do not have an in-house person and we have to rely on these outside persons sometimes two, three days after especially on a weekend.” he says.
The chief says it has been an ongoing conversation with the Ministry of Home Affairs as it relates to having a permanent in-house counselor that is accessible.
Despite the fire service’s ability to respond to emergencies, he says the psychological pressures do affect the manpower.
Downes says in most instances responding officers have to be given time off or reassignments to different work departments in effort to help with their mental health.
“Sometimes the responding officers we may have to either remove them from the ambulance or reassign them for some time to a different work area. We also sometimes have to give them time off to deal with the problems based on the advice of the counselor.” he adds.
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