In addition to helping their individual employees,
departments that promote good communication and
positive emotional interactions can enhance daily
operations, teamwork and personnel satisfaction.
5
When
behavioral health disorders are unaddressed, they can
impact the work setting and contribute to low morale and
higher turnover rate.
6
A behavioral health program can
provide educational seminars and information on topics
of interest to uniformed personnel and their families, such
as: positive versus destructive coping strategies, shift work
and sleep disturbances, balancing the stressors of
emergency services work and families, weight control,
nutrition, cholesterol control, tobacco use cessation,
fitness, hypertension awareness, preventive medicine,
infection control, substance abuse, retirement planning,
career/vocational guidance, job associated grief
counseling, and other specific work-related issues. These
topics mirror and complement the themes found
elsewhere in the Wellness-Fitness Initiative. Equally
important, programs that promote behavioral health
wellness help reduce the stigma associated with using
behavioral health resources.
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Stress is defined by the National Institute of Mental Health
as the brain’s response to any demand.
7
Events that trigger
this response may be short-term, long-term and/or
recurring stressors. Not all stress is bad – it can also be
triggered by positive events - and some level of stress is a
normal part of life. However, stress can also be triggered by
negative experiences, like a serious illness, divorce, or
exposure to traumatic events.
Chronic stress can have negative physiological and
psychological consequences ranging from digestive
symptoms, headaches, depressed mood, anger, and
irritability. Stress can also exacerbate certain health
conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes, as well as
increase susceptibility to viral infections such as the
common cold and flu virus. When a person’s ability to
cope with stressors is overwhelmed, it can result in
diagnosable psychological conditions such as anxiety
disorders, mood disorders, or post-traumatic stress
disorder.
8
The following section reviews the common stressors
experienced by uniformed personnel – job-related stress,
hazardous exposures and family relations – and suggests
ways departments and individuals can manage that stress.
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The work of fire service personnel is characterized by long
hours, shift work, disruptions in sleep patterns, sporadic
high intensity situations, strong emotional involvement,
life and death decisions, and exposure to extreme human
suffering. Eventually, this type of work can impose
excessive stress upon an individual and his or her family.
Uniformed personnel also experience small day-to-day
stressors — old or lack of equipment, high call volume,
c
ondition of station living quarters, or disagreements with
coworkers —– which can build up over time and result in
unhealthy stress reactions.
9
Disasters and other large-scale emergency responses are
also a major source of job stress. Disasters affect whole
neighborhoods, towns, cities and/or counties. An entire
city’s resources may be mobilized to help restore order and
assist the hundreds or thousands of people affected.
Without fail, uniformed personnel are on the frontline, the
first to respond to any such disaster. Keep in mind,
firefighters also live in the communities affected by
national disasters, so they’re coping with personal loss at
the same time they are addressing increased job-related
stress. If a lengthy recovery operation is necessary,
uniformed personnel may stay on the scene of the disaster
for days and even weeks, further elevating stress and
leaving little time to recover. Spending hours and days on
the scene of a disaster can have significant emotional
consequences.
In the aftermath of a disaster, fire fighters often take
shortcuts with sleep and nutrition and may be away from
their families for a period of time. These shortcuts can
short-circuit the individual’s physical and psychological
health. Uniformed personnel who work disaster scenes
should take more time to care for themselves, not less, to
make sure that they and their families are physically and
emotionally safe.
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Uniformed personnel risk exposure to a variety of hazards
during their course of their jobs, and these exposures can
become a significant source of stress. On the job, they
interact with individuals who have been exposed to or
have been infected with contagious diseases such as
hepatitis B, tuberculosis, viral meningitis, meningococcal,
pneumococcal diseases and HIV/AIDS.
10
Wearing proper
personal protective equipment (PPE) can help prevent
transmission and reduce stress.
While fighting a fire or in the fire station, uniformed
personnel also can be exposed to high levels of hazardous
chemicals, including known and suspected human
carcinogens. Fire smoke contains many hazardous
combustion byproducts such as benzene, formaldehyde,
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), many of these are
known to cause cancer in humans. Fire fighters can be
exposed to these hazards when they do not wear their
Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) and full
protective gear during all phases of firefighting (including
overhaul). Exposure can occur if protective gear is faulty,
48