EAGLE, Idaho — First responders across Ada County responded to two tragic calls on Wednesday, March 18. A 14-year-old boy drowned in Star Pond, and a medical emergency led to the death of Nampa Mayor Rick Hogaboam.
WATCH | Helping first responders cope with trauma on the job—
Eagle Police Chief Travis Ruby said these back-to-back incidents take a toll on the crews who respond.
“When we respond to calls for service, generally speaking, we're responding to people at some of their worst moments in life. And so when we respond to critical events or traumatic events, we often carry that with us after we leave," Ruby said.
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Recently, the Ada County Sheriff's Office created a new wellness director position to support first responders in the Treasure Valley. Lisa Johnson, who fills that role, said some of the same crew members were called to both scenes.
“As we know, police agencies and first responder agencies in general are stretched pretty thin. The cumulative effect of responding to scene after scene and trauma after trauma, and that can certainly take a toll on first responders and officers," Johnson said.
Ruby said that is where peer support teams step in. These teams lead critical incident debriefs and help crews process what they have experienced in a healthy way.
"We talk about how to move forward through those things. And what I've learned throughout my career is that when we experience trauma, there's a few things that I believe deeply, and one of those is it's OK to not be OK,” Ruby said.
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Johnson said this kind of support plays a key role in long-term well-being. Trained peer support specialists are already checking in with those who responded on Wednesday.
“Whoever was on scene will share what they know of the story. And when we have all the puzzle pieces, it just helps our brain to send it to long-term storage so that we're not thinking about it as often,” Johnson said.
Critical incident debriefs differ from tactical debriefs, which also take place after an event. According to Ruby, tactical debriefs focus on evaluating the response itself.
“A law enforcement team or a medical team might get together, and they might look at the event, and they might talk more about, how did we respond? What resources were used? What resources would have been valuable? What did we need but not have?” Ruby said.
And their mental health support does not stop when the shift ends. First responders are encouraged to build healthy habits off the job.
“When we're not on shift, we have positive wellness habits to help us process through any trauma that we may have experienced, so that way we're not taking it home and it's not impacting our families,” Ruby said.
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