Bluegrass group helps Wood County's first responders cope with stress, prevent suicide deaths

WISCONSIN RAPIDS − Wood County residents can count on getting help with a simple phone call when they have a crisis, but who helps emergency workers when they need help?

The National Violent Death Reporting System reports that 1% of suicide deaths between 2015 and 2017 were of first responders. Law enforcement officers accounted for 58% of those deaths, firefighters were 21%, emergency medical service providers were 18% and emergency telecommunicators were 2%.

To help reduce the number of suicides and people leaving the emergency services in Wood County, officials from all aspects of emergency services, including law enforcement, fire, first responders and social services, came together to form the Wood County Critical Incident Stress Management Team, Wisconsin Rapids Deputy Police Chief Scott Dewitt said. Dewitt is on the group's administrative team.

Critical Incident Stress Management is a nationwide program to help emergency workers. The Wood County team helps all fire departments, police departments and first responders in the county, Wood County Sheriff Shawn Becker said.

Following a stressful incident such as a police-involved shooting, department suicide, multi-death incident or incident involving children, the shift commander can request the Critical Incident Stress Management Team, also known as CISM, to do a group debriefing. It is a kind of psychological first aid for the people who have experienced a traumatic event. It helps people process the bad situations, Dewitt said.

People who need more help are assigned a peer counselor. The peer can check in with the person who might be struggling. The peer can recommend someone go for more professional help, if needed, Dewitt said.

The CISM is paid for by private donations, said Wisconsin Rapids Deputy Fire Chief Jason Joling, who also is on the CISM Administrative Team. Last year, the group Bluegrass at the Lake approached Joling and asked about who they could raise money to help. Joling told them about the work CISM was doing in the county.

Bluegrass at the Lake started six years ago, said Carolyn Saylor, one of the group's organizers. The group holds the Brittany Saylor Bluegrass at the Lake Memorial Music Festival at Lake Wazeecha's Red Sands Beach each year. Saylor said they knew CISM would be a perfect fit for their efforts.

Last week, Bluegrass at the Lake presented Becker and other members of the Wood County Sheriff's Office with a check for $12,800 to be used for CISM. Thanks to the volunteers and the businesses who made donations for the three-day event, which took place June 8-10, Bluegrass of the Lake raised more money than they had in any previous year, Saylor said.

The Wisconsin Rapids Lions sell food at the event, which brings a lot of people in, Saylor said. Prime Real Estate Group held its Flipping the Griddle Cook Off and raised $2,436, double what it raised last year.

Becker said he was speechless when he saw the amount raised. The group had previously donated about $2,000 to CISM, he said.

Emergency personnel deal with − and often don't deal with − crisis at work. They then have to take it home with them. They can end up losing their jobs or worse, their lives, because they aren't dealing with the stress they feel, Becker said.

Joling said the donation from Bluegrass at the Lake will pay to train several more peers to help. The training is expensive, but important, he said.

Bluegrass at the Lake did its research about CISM and about who the people are who are included in the group of first responders, Saylor said. It's an important program and Bluegrass at the Lake members want to help spread the word about CISM and why it's important, she said.

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Contact Karen Madden at 715-345-2245 or kmadden@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KMadden715, Instagram @kmadden715 or Facebook at www.facebook.com/karen.madden.33

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This article originally appeared on Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune: Bluegrass group helps Wood County first responders cope with stress