Good Stress Bad Stress

We started off the morning in much the same venue as yesterday, that is with the issues relating to death. The number one killer of firefighters on a scene is heart attack. The second killer among firefighters was a little shocking to me. The second killer is suicide. After the class I was talking to a chaplain from Virginia and in his hall alone in the past 2 years 3 firefighters have taken their own lives. The stress on these guys is massive.
Needless to say we spent the day talking about these two subjects and the connection between the two top killers is unmanaged bad stress. Bad stress kills. Bad stress is basically any situation that is out of the control of the firefighters but the basic personality of most firefighters is to want to try and control what is basically uncontrollable. The result is bad stress. Feelings of failure, feelings of depression, mental illness and guilt all take an enormous toll on their personal health and also the well-being of their families. The staggering divorce rates among firefighters are as high as 80%.
Basically the whole morning convinced me of the necessity of the role of Chaplain. To watch the firefighters (myself included), to listen to them, to care about them enough to even talk to chief on their behalf if necessary. To provide a safe place to talk out their stuff and to offer encouragement, wisdom and of course directing them towards some professional help could literally save their lives.
The planners of the day were smart enough to remove us from the heaviness of the mornings classroom by sending us all on three buses for a tour of the city. This was followed by a BBQ Salmon feast at Hall #18. We feasted on fresh fish and listened to the Firefighters Band play some terrific music while we ate. It was a terrific way to end the day.

God is Good All the Time!
See you tomorrow.