US Rep. Ronny Jackson visits with first responders in Amarillo

As part of a staff retreat, U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson and his staff toured Amarillo Fire Station No. 5 Wednesday and heard from local first responders about their needs and concerns that need addressing in Congress.

After getting a firsthand look at much of the equipment that firefighters at the station have on hand, with an explanation about the usages for these items, Jackson took some questions from some of the first responders.

A vast majority of questions posed to Jackson from those attending had to do with mental health, as far as being staffed with more professionals in that capacity and the effect it has overall on first responders' service in the community.

Jackson pointed to much of the issues that first responders are dealing with in connection to mental health as being related to the nation’s drug problem, particularly fentanyl, which he placed the blame on for much of the problems being faced, as well as a brief mention of methamphetamine.

“It’s a horrible drug that can kill you with a single dose unintentionally, but it can also kill paramedics, firefighters and police officers that are responding to this thing,” Jackson said. “It is a big danger for them as well, not to mention the crime that is involved with it.”

Blaming much of the issue on the current administration, Jackson referenced President Joe Biden multiple times in his answers to questions, although the fentanyl crisis has been ongoing for many years now.

When asked about solutions to this issue and homelessness in the area, Jackson referenced the lack of power that his party has at this time.

“All of these drugs are coming across the border, and folks are concerned about the mental health issue that we have here,” Jackson said. “You cannot separate the drug problem from homelessness. It is leading to problems all over the country.”

He said that much of the issue cannot be resolved on drugs or homelessness until Republicans retake power. Homeless rates had dropped in the previous 10 years nationally but started rising in 2017 and rose to its highest rate since 2012 during 2020, according to endhomelessness.org, which was when the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Jackson claims that the current administration is completely ignoring the border and that he has taken multiple trips to the border and saw firsthand the impact it has.

Acknowledging that there is a shortage of mental health care providers in Amarillo and nationally, Jackson said that this issue needs to be addressed but gave no specific solutions when asked. Jackson spoke about providing more money and more training for professionals to increase the number of mental health providers on hand.

“We have a complete shortage of these providers because we have such a demand for them,” Jackson said. “It is not unique to Amarillo; it's everywhere. It's ubiquitous. It is in the military to the civilian sector. We must address the root cause for the large percentage of other crime and homelessness in the country.”

When asked about measures that Congress could take to take on the rise in homelessness, Jackson said that federal money could be used to address the homeless but reiterated that the main issue was the drugs coming over the border and, in his opinion, nothing is being done to stop it.

Jackson, when asked about the overwhelming blame for mental health as the root cause of many problems in the country including gun violence and what could be done to stem the tide, again related much of the issues to the southern border and drugs being a major contributor.

With incarceration seemingly taking the place of mental health solutions, Jackson said that these issues need to be addressed, but there has to be consequences to criminal actions.

He said that many people are not being prosecuted for crimes and officers do not arrest them, because many times they are scared to do their job due to the push to remove qualified immunity from them. Qualified immunity shields officers from being held personally liable for constitutional violations on citizens.

“They are damned if they do and damned if they don’t,” Jackson added. “If there are not consequences, then it is only going to get a lot worse.”

Mark Mendez, secretary of Amarillo Professional Firefighters Local 542, spoke about the needs and challenges that emergency responders face in the area. He emphasized the need for more personnel and mental health professionals and said that there were only about two working with the city of Amarillo.

“I would really like to see some more clinicians and more people made available to firefighters, police EMS for mental health,” Mendez said. “We are short-handed a lot of times, so people work long hours, more hours, a lot of overtime. And eventually, you just get burnout. We also see a lot of things that most humans are not meant to see, and we have to deal with that in our own ways. We need more professionals to help people get through these situations.”

Mendez said that there is a great need for more people to train with first responders to deal with these types of issues that are all too prevalent in emergency encounters.

Amarillo Fire Department Captain Cody Snyder spoke about how many needed items for the department must be appropriated at the federal level. He said it was important for people like Jackson to see the needs of the department firsthand.

“A lot of funding for the equipment, the monitors, the stuff we need for hazmat and our rescue teams and stuff like that, a lot of that financially is supported through the federal level," Snyder said. “It is really good that they get out here and get to see all that. There are several areas in his district that have a lot of equipment needs.”

Jackson said the goal of going around and speaking with first responders is to get them to know his staff, so they have someone to reach out to about issues.

“I want those people, everybody here in the Amarillo area to meet my staff in D.C. to develop a relationship with them, so they can pick the phone up, call them and we can, you know, fix what’s broken around here,” Jackson added.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Amarillo first responders share needs with Rep. Ronny Jackson