CINCINNATI – So many in the West End are crying loss of 11-year-old in Friday night shooting who injured four other children and one adult, Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge participated in a one-on-one interview with WCPO 9 News to, among other topics, pledge her support for the mental health of first responders who rushed to the scene for help.
Support systems for firefighters and police officers activated within hours of the shooting as people like Joe Elliott, peer support coordinator for the Cincinnati Fire Department, learned how tragic the scene they responded to was.
“I automatically deployed three or four, I think we had four resources at four different fire stations to monitor our members,” Elliott said.
He said dispatchers and peer support team members called him within minutes Friday night. appalling radio traffic describing several injured children broadcast on the airwaves.
The support team is not old.
It was created in 2019 while the first full-time coordinator position, his job, was not created until December 2022.
Still, Elliott said the 51-member — and growing — mental health support team of firefighters of all ranks is critical to the department’s ongoing operations.
“More than 20% of my department has contacted mental health,” he said.
Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 69 President Dan Hils said mental health resources are also critical for the officers who responded to the scene.
“When you come to something like that, you’re not human if it doesn’t affect you in some way,” Hils said.
Theetge pledged his support to all first responders, including dispatchers, during Monday’s interview.
She said Cincinnati police wellness coordinators worked all weekend.
“They’re just acting,” Theetge said. “That’s what I want for police officers. I don’t want them to have to worry about waiting for me to tell someone to make sure they’re OK.”
Hils and Elliott agree that support services need to be available long-term and 24 hours a day.
With stigma around mental health widespread in police and fire departments, both men said it’s important that a trained person be available when a team member is ready to ask for ugly.
“It could take 10 years. You really don’t know,” Hils said. “It’s the daily availability that is important, probably even more than having all hands on deck.”
Elliott asked the city of Cincinnati to come up with funds to make his grant-funded position permanent. It is currently funded until December 2024.
He emphasized that it’s okay to not be well, especially in high-stress jobs, because mental illnesses are just as real as physical illnesses.
“We wouldn’t make fun of them or put them down if they had cancer or another health problem,” Elliott said.
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