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Helping our Brothers and Sisters
We all talk about being Brothers and Sisters in the Fire Service, but how many of your departments have programs to help those Firefighters and their families who need a little help?
I know most departments have some sort of Critical Incident Response plan, but do Company Officers ever help a Firefighter find a program for the functionally illiterate, if someone has trouble writing a few sentences in coherent English?
Do any departments have programs they can refer a Firefighter to for alcohol dependency issues? I know this many be covered by the department's health insurance program (if it has one, especially reffering to Volunteer Departments), but maybe there is a program with an affiliation with your department? What if it's a Firefighter's spouse wiht the problem?
Do Fire Departments ever host programs like "Financial Peace University" to teach firefighters about making the most of their money and staying out of debt? How many of our comrades in the fire service are up to their eyeballs in debt? How many Firefighters live paycheck to paycheck and just make ends meet (this month, what about next month?) Maybe the department Chaplian (if your department has a Chaplain) could host this program for anyone who wants to break the cycle of debt.
I'm just curious to what degree we really do help our own not only go home, but help them improve their life as well.
I know most departments have some sort of Critical Incident Response plan, but do Company Officers ever help a Firefighter find a program for the functionally illiterate, if someone has trouble writing a few sentences in coherent English?
Do any departments have programs they can refer a Firefighter to for alcohol dependency issues? I know this many be covered by the department's health insurance program (if it has one, especially reffering to Volunteer Departments), but maybe there is a program with an affiliation with your department? What if it's a Firefighter's spouse wiht the problem?
Do Fire Departments ever host programs like "Financial Peace University" to teach firefighters about making the most of their money and staying out of debt? How many of our comrades in the fire service are up to their eyeballs in debt? How many Firefighters live paycheck to paycheck and just make ends meet (this month, what about next month?) Maybe the department Chaplian (if your department has a Chaplain) could host this program for anyone who wants to break the cycle of debt.
I'm just curious to what degree we really do help our own not only go home, but help them improve their life as well.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Spanner 122 on
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I guess I'm pretty lucky, we have all of that. We are a large career department in a large city though, so you would hope we would I guess (although our benefits package stinks). We have EAP (Employee Assistance program), counselling available for work related stress, marriage counselling, or anything in between. We have retirement seminars and since there is a Firefighter credit union we also have financial planning meetings. As for a program from literacy, it's not really needed in our department, if you had this sort of issue, you wouldn't get past the written tests.
Every department should have some sort of program, but from what I have read on here, some struggle just to pay for equipment and training. These programs aren't free, so it's going to depend on what the department and township can afford.
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Permalink Reply by Greenman on
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All too true... I was thinking along the lines of pointing people in the right direction to get help, especially in smaller departments. I assumed large departments would have these programs, as you pointed out.
As for the literacy problem, I think it is a problem mainly for volunteer departments.
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Permalink Reply by Stephanie on
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