http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-nor.eap5mar03,0,1399338.story?coll=stam-news-local-headlines
By John Nickerson
Staff Writer
March 3, 2006
NORWALK -- Fire Chief Denis McCarthy knows how debilitating some service calls can be. When he worked in Westport, McCarthy learned that one of his employees committed suicide after being let go.
While that case may be extraordinary, McCarthy said that front-line first responders regularly face stress that others in municipal government do not.
As a result, he and police Chief Harry Riling have requested that the city enroll their first responders in a counseling service specifically designed for fire and police personnel.
"It is professional help 24 hours per day and an important tool for supervisors that provides a safety net for employees," McCarthy said.
The chiefs have asked the Common Council's Personnel Committee to sign up their members with a national organization called Public Safety EAP, or employee assistance program, which helps public safety professionals solve personal problems that may affect their jobs and families.
For 25 years, all Norwalk workers have been able to use the city's employee assistance program during the work week to help solve work-related, personal or family problems, Health Director Timothy Callahan said.
Rilling and McCarthy said while the city counseling service is good, their employees need more -- 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
"We are a 24-hour operation. We go to many of the same types and same emergencies as police, which are the worst of the worst in terms of catastrophes and people's lives. The impact is cumulative," McCarthy said.
At $30 per employee per year, the service would cost the police department about $6,000 for its 175 officers and 25 dispatchers, Rilling said.
For the fire department's 131 employees, the cost would be about $3,900, McCarthy said.
From Feb. 1, 2005 to Jan 31, 2006, the city employee assistance program served 93 police department staff members, or their family members, in a department of 218, city EAP coordinator Craig Shoop said.
Police staff were looking for help especially in the areas of marriage relationships, child-parent issues, depression and anxiety, substance abuse and job related issues, Shoop said.
Before the Personnel Committee makes a decision, it has requested that a plan be worked out to coordinate the city EAP plan with Public Service EAP in hopes of providing a better service than if the two worked independently, McCarthy said.
Rilling said the service was only a phone call away 24 hours per day for first responders in the vast majority of Connecticut cities.
"There are only three (state) cities that don't use Public Safety EAP -- Hartford, Greenwich and Norwalk," Rilling said.
Public Safety EAP sent counselors to work with Norwalk police a few years ago when there was a suicide in the police department, even though the department didn't have a contract with the organization, Rilling said.
First responders are in a unique position, Rilling said.
"They see things in a year that most people never see in a lifetime. Unless we give them the opportunity to have a confidential service that can help them deal with those difficult times, we are putting them at great risk," Rilling said.
Copyright © 2006, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.