Assemblyman William Moen addresses the passage of a measure to give employment protection to first responders who suffer from PTSD.
The Camden County Board of Commissioners joined two state legislators at the township fire department headquarters on March 26 to celebrate the passing of a bill that will benefit current and former first responders.
The measure will give employment protection to first responders when they suffer from PTSD, under certain conditions, and enable them to return to work if they took time off for PTSD-related issues. It was signed into law in January.
Matthew Caliente, president of the Professional Firefighters Association of New Jersey, recalled that the journey to the bill’s passage began five years ago with the association’s previous president, Steve McConlogue
“This was a fight that we were (having) for the last five years, that we were battling every day for,” Caliente said. “So I know they (legislators) don’t get the recognition sometimes … Lot of ups and downs. But today, we’re here because of their dedication to doing what’s right for our first responders.
“I want to make this very clear: This was a Professional Firefighters Association of New Jersey initiative right from the very beginning.”
Assemblyman William Moen was a co-sponsor of the bill with Sen. Jim Beach.
“When these diagnoses occur, (we want) … to have a framework in place to ensure that none of these first responders, whether it’s police, fire or otherwise, are left behind because of perhaps backwards thinking, or an unappreciative decision maker.
“That is, sadly, why we need a state law, because there are pockets of the state where that was occurring.”
Beach talked about how his father, who won a Purple Heart at Iwo Jima during World War II, suffered from PTSD. He remembered an incident when his father was 97 years old and shouting in his sleep.
“About 3 o’clock, he started screaming, ‘They’re shooting at us, keep your heads down,'” Beach explained. ” … What that told me is he has suffered from PTSD his entire life. And so this bill is so important. And my dad, I asked him one time, about one of his friends that was really shaken, and he goes, ‘Oh, he’s just shell shocked from the war.’
“So there was no definition of it.”
Moen said that while the legislation made sense, there was resistance over the years. But when it finally passed, the vote was unanimous.
“But the reality is there could be a cost to local government,” Moen noted, referring to medical leave or increased health care costs. “And a lot of the work we’ve done over the last few years is to talk to key leaders in local government around the state that maybe had a difference of opinion on it and the impact that it would have, and then try to persuade them to consider looking at it from our perspective.
“And I think the fact that it was signed into law earlier this year in January, was evidence that our conversations worked.”
An issue highlighted by John Herrmann, a clinic coordinator with the firefighters association, is that first responders who experience traumatic incidents may assume they’re still fit to return to duty when they really aren’t. Herrmann pointed to a survey of firefighters that showed there is sometimes a stigma associated with seeking treatment; he hopes to change that.
” … Part of it is reframing the idea that actually you’re going to be a better firefighter if you seek treatment for this,” Herrmann added, “as opposed to a weaker or somehow a worse firefighter. So I think that’s our number-one way – try to change that perception.”
After Camden Fire Department Capt. Howard Bennett died in the line of duty on Feb. 5, there were peer support members at surrounding fire stations to provide support.
“We were there for the funeral to basically provide support to any individual member that’s having a hard time at the funeral,” Herrmann pointed out. “And we were also there for four days following the funeral, visiting firehouses with peer supporters. We had three to four peer supporters every single day at the fire houses making sure, giving a little bit of mental-health education to the members of the Camden Fire Department, and also just making those connections to members that are having maybe a harder time.”
