VIDEO: The average person may face a handful of traumatic events in their lifetime, but for first responders, trauma is a daily part of the job.
A bill now on Gov. Katie Hobbs’ desk aims to make it easier for public safety professionals to access mental health support to process that trauma.
SB 1400, sponsored by Senate Public Safety Committee Chairman Kevin Payne, passed the Legislature this month with bipartisan support. The bill still needs Hobbs’ signature to become law.
First responders answer call after call after call, running toward danger and disaster to save and protect others. “They might go from a fatal car accident to a child drowning to then having to give somebody CPR in one shift,” said Dave Goetia, a Glendale police officer.
Phoenix firefighter and paramedic Gary Nolte said the traumatic scenes stay with first responders long after the call ends.
“Kids injured or sick and or dying. The parent screams stick with us. The anguish, the pain that we see on scene,” Nolte said.
KOLD-TV CBS 13 Tucson