Leaders, Feeders and Drones

We talk about leadership, mental health, drones, and food again, (your host goes on a rant about that). We do talk about mental health, a serious subject for all. A new story in Squirrel Theatre that's uplifting and maybe what it would be like if First Responders had a theme park.

Send your comments to 911squirrelpodcast@gmail.com, or hit us up on Facebook and Instagram. 

Transcript

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SPEAKER_04 0:02

Welcome to 911 Squirrel, a podcast for all the fine men and women who serve as first responders. Stories will be told at training at everyday responder life is explored, all while having a great time doing it. So grab your coffee and watch those tales. This squirrel shift is about to begin. And now, the only man that he knows about that ever sends dispatch information over the radio. Your host, Brad Matt.

SPEAKER_03 0:36

Hello and welcome to episode number two of 911 Squirrel, the podcast for first responders. And as always, the cool tech voice said I am your host, Brad Matt, and this episode is called Leaders, Feeders, and Drones, Oma. Uh no no. I didn't put the I just put the OMA in because it sounded it's low-hanging fruit, people. Anyway, may the White Cloud bless you all with fun and rewarding chips. Uh last week, you got to learn what 911 Squirrel was all about, and we thank you for listening. That is just amazing. Uh your squirrel tail just got a tadbush here if you're listening. That's right. Oh, don't say that like that. Okay. If you are new, thank you for joining us. You will find out our podcast is all all things first responder, the job, the life, the weekly trips to HQ, because you don't have a filter. Uh yes, and I know several people like that. Uh but this week we are going to have a special guest. We'll have a new story on Squirrel Theater and whatever else we can think of. Now, what the some of the comments I got last week, and I love your comments. Keep sending them in. We'd like to hear from you. We want to hear about we want to hear your stories. We want to hear um if you got good recipes for a station for the station. Uh do you have um do you have VD? I don't know. I'm just spitballing here, but yes, we want to hear from you. So you can go you can email us at 911 Squirrel Podcast at gmail.com, or you can go on Facebook or Instagram. Go to 911 Squirrel, you'll find us there. You can leave a comment there, blah, blah, blah. So please, we want to hear from you. Now, one of the one of the things that we got asked uh in a lot of comments last week in in a lot of different ways, was what's the plan for 911 Squirrel? What is what are you trying to accomplish? Okay, well that's easy. First, we want to reach every first responder in the nation. No ifs, ands, or buts. We want we want to we want to reach you. We want to be uh we want to eventually uh every first responder going, did you listen to 911 Screw? Did you listen? Did you listen? That's that's what we want, obviously. Now, second, eventually we want to make this a video podcast. We want to be able to show training, we want to be able to um show whatever, you know, uh the whole thing. So you can watch it and go, hey, even your humble host who needs to get his butt back in a gym. But um we want to be able to do that. We want to be we want to be able to become a video podcast, and of course that takes equipment, which takes money. So the more you listen, the more the advertisers are gonna want to come to 911 Squirrel and say, hey, we want to advertise. And then we start getting money, that money turns into video equipment, and so forth and so on. Now, once we get to that point, we will start taking requests from different departments or agencies to come out to your department or agency, as I like to do all kinds of redundancy here, and record an episode for 911 Squirrel from your department. Um and eventually, with any luck, we can start doing live podcasts, which would be even better. So that's what we're that's what we're trying to do here. So tell your friends and colleagues to subscribe, uh, listen a lot, get those numbers up so we can get those ad numbers. And uh another thing, some uh and I I'm kind of reluctant to do this just because I know what y'all make, and it's it's very hard-earned money. It really is. Um But if you'd like to donate to 911 Squirrel to make all this happen, by all means email us at 911 Squirrel Podcast at gmail.com. We'll let you know how to do it. Um we will even give you a um well, I can't do that because I'm not a 51 501c, whatever nonprofit thing. This isn't a non-profit. I like profits. I'm trying to make a living here, people. Uh but we all know what we all make, and so we know it's hard to earn money. So if you want to, great. I will I will love you to death for the rest of your life. But if you don't want to, that's fine too. I it these days, you know, you need your money. So, but yes, if you want to donate, email us at 911 squirrel podcast at gmail.com. In the meantime, by all means, send us your stories, your comments, whatever you want us to know. Even if it's your waist size, send it to 911 Squirrel Podcast at gmail.com or catch us. That's right. You can catch us on Facebook or Instagram. Did I explain that all correctly? I hope so, because that's all I got. So there you go. And now, this episode's top ten. Yep, is the top ten list for this episode and it's thoughts first responders have on scene but can't say out loud. And number 10 comes in with I wonder what broiled parrot tastes like. If you're a firefighter and you've been to a house fire that has lots of pets, you've had this thought. Number nine, the number nine thought a first responder may have on scene but can't say out loud. Greetings as a representative of Earth. I would like to invite you to meet our elders. They wear white coats and want to learn about your planet. I wanted to say this to two separate patients, but just can't do it. Number eight, the number eight thought of a first responder that you can't say out loud is you can tell your hubs, you can tell your husband no once in a while. And I have a story for this, which I'll tell after the top ten. Number seven, oh, this is for rookie law enforcement. I know someone's done this. If you're a rookie and you've done this, you need to let me know. The number seven thought of a rookie law enforcement officer on scene but can't say out loud is this is my first arrest. Can we get a selfie? Don't do it. I know someone's done it, but don't do it. Number six. Oh, this is for dispatchers. Number the number six, a thought a dispatcher will have, but can't say out loud. Ma'am, it's only been 10 seconds since your original 911 call. It's not like the ambulance is next door. You can't say it. And they will. They'll call as soon as they hang up. Where are they? Number five. Why isn't number five number one? The number five thought a first responder will have unseen but can't say out loud is no. That's right, just two letters. No. Should be number one. Number four, the number four thought of a first responder you can have unseen but can't say out loud is Sovereign Citizen. I'll give you sovereign citizen. Watch some videos, man. Number three, the number three thought a first responder may have unseen but can't say out loud is Stop doing drugs, you idiot! It's the idiot part. That's what you can't do. Number two, oh this is a good one. Number two thought a first responder may have unseen but cannot say is well, he died with his boots on and socks off. And the number one thought a first responder will have unseen, but can't say out loud is raise your hand if you're dead. Yep, can't say that. Raise your hand if you're dead. Won't get an answer anyway. And that's your that's your episode's top ten. Oh, and back to you can't tell your husband no once in a while. I've actually said this. Was on a call with an ex-partner of mine. We went to a childbirth, the child's already been born. He's talking to her, I'm preparing to cut the cord, and he asks her questions, and he says, How many kids is this? And she says, Two. And he says, Well, how old's the first? And she says, ten months. And I looked up without missing a beat, and I said, You can tell your husband no once in a while, and cut the cord. Yep. Sure did. But yeah, number number five, no, that should be number one. There's that that should should have been number one. I don't know why that's number five, but it was number one. Should have been number one. But raise your hand if you're dead, that's a pretty good one. That'd be a good one for like if you have a party and there's some drunk people passed out on your floor. Raise your hand if you're dead. Just saying. And now it's time for a news segment where your humble host, that's me, gets to rant about something that's mostly insignificant, but with any luck thought-provoking. And it's called Max Four-Minute Rant. May the rant begin. Holidays are a special time within the year. Whether special times within the year, if I've learned how to read my own writing, where we celebrate with family and friends. There are a plethora of traditional and non-traditional ways we mark those occasions, whether with a meal, gifts, or even fireworks. As a first responder, we do not always get those days off, but we still try to enjoy those holidays during our shift. There are a few in the general public that want to show their appreciation for your service. But that's where I have an issue. And it's not like I'm not appreciative of their efforts. No, no, no, no. Far, far from it. I love the idea that there's people who want to recognize that public service is a matter of sacrifice and that these wonderful citizens want to show their support. We need more like them. My gosh, do we need them everywhere? No, no, no. My issue is with the food they bring. That's right. Cupcakes, cookies, cakes, pies, brownies. Oh my! I can't do George Tuccott. Anyway, so much sugar and enriched flour that when you put on your turnout gear, you ask, does this make my hips look big? Or my case, a butt you can show an IMAX movie on. How about the overwhelming foal feeling? That's right. Walking up to a scene with a half-nouse gut and wish for an expedited emergency so you can get back in time for an unscheduled thinking session on the porcelain throne. Not to mention all those tasty treats sitting in the station, baiting you into having more.

SPEAKER_02 12:18

You know you want another. I taste so good. Just a little nibble.

SPEAKER_03 12:24

Oh gosh, I sound like an English prostitute. But the next thing you know, you're wide awake at 2 a.m. mind racing, waiting for the alcohol seltzer to kick in. If you're in your 20s, we get it. You burn that stuff quickly. Just shut up. Enjoy while you can, because in a few years you'll say, I'm stuffed, and you'll mean it for hours. There are rare times though, when a very thoughtful person or persons bring a good meat, salad, or vegetables. Now, I would like to assume they wanted to show their appreciation by bringing food that's nutritious as well as delicious. I'm probably wrong, but I'm going with it, so keep up with me here. These angels of culinary arts remind me of those grandmothers who always made sure you were well fed. Of course, my grandmother was old school. Either eat what I put in front of you or face the spatula. My gosh, to this day I can't eat peas without having a traumatic flashback. We love our citizens, we love their support, we love that they think of us during the holidays and want to show their love. That's great. And this all may sound whiny, arrogant, perhaps even a bit diva-like, but I believe it's better to have real food than sweets. And before you say, Well, you're just a health not Nazi, well, I can tell you this. A cheesecake in my house may last two days, and that's with willpower. So, dear general public, it means so much to us that you think of us on the holidays. I mean, it really does. We cannot show you how much it means to us. There's just no way. But respectfully, just requesting a decent meal. And that's my four-minute rant that lasted four minutes and seven. Seven. Well, it probably lasted four minutes. And if you have comments on my rant, please by all means email us at 911 squirrel podcast at gmail.com because I know you guys are gonna have comments, especially the ones going, but I love our cakes and cookies, and we get to take them home. I don't mind if they bring I mean, I d I don't, but no, I do. Because it just sits there, and then you're just like, oh my gosh. I'm still ranting. This is a four-minute rant that's becoming five minutes. Alright, the rant's over. This is good, this was fun. I'll have a good one next week, too. But yes, send comments to 911Squirrel podcast at gmail.com or get on Facebook, Instagram, leave a comment there by all means.

SPEAKER_04 15:13

And I'd love to hear your comments. Okay. This is the briefing. News from around the country that affects the policies, procedures, or employment of first responders. And now, the briefing.

SPEAKER_03 15:36

Okay, the briefing. Of course, every podcast would look around the country for news stories that affects the policies, procedures, or employment of first responders. Uh, this week I I found this and I was I was kind of intrigued by it, only because I I like the idea of drones. Well, this this story I came across, and let's see what you think of it. The National League of Cities and BRINK, I'm assuming, BRINC, launched National Drone as First Responder Initiative. The partnership aims to help cities deploy drones to 911 calls and modernize emergency response. The National League of Cities, the NLC, and U.S. drone manufacturer BRINC, BRINC, have announced a national program designed to help cities deploy drones to emergency calls. The initiative focuses on expanding the use of drone as first responder DFR programs across the United States. Announced in Washington, D.C., the BRINC NLC drone as first responder program will help cities, towns, villages uh evaluate and launch drone operations tied to 911 calls. The effort aims to improve response times, increase situational awareness, and support your first responders during emergencies. Absolutely. Local governments across the country continue to explore new technology to strengthen public safety operations. DFR programs have emerged as one of the fastest growing tools in modern emergency response. So far, I like the idea. I love drones. I own one. Almost lost it in a valley one time, but that's that's neither here nor there. Okay. Now how do these drones work? I looked this up and I I wanted to do some research to make sure. Um first of all, uh what they do is uh drone as first responder programs place drones in charging stations at strategic locations throughout a city. Okay. When a call uh for service arrives, dispatchers can launch a drone to the scene within seconds. In many cases, the drone arrives before officers or firefighters or any other first responders to the ground. Uh the aircraft can provide live video, two-way communication, and real-time information to dispatchers and responding teams. This early aerial view can help agencies assess risks before personnel arrived. It can also improve coordination during fast-moving incidents. Um many departments have adopted DFR to support calls such as burglaries in progress, missing person searches, traffic incidents, and large public events. The system uh allows dispatch centers to gather information quickly while reducing uncertainty for responding officers. Okay, great. I love the idea drones. And I love uh uh I I did the research on these particular drones, and uh what it is is it it's a pod. They they had this they have a pod and wherever it's installed at on top of buildings or at a station, whatever the case is, or and then when a call comes out, if dispatch wants to send a drone along the way, the pod opens up and the drone just takes off. Now I don't know, and I and I had to do some more research on this, whether it requires a pilot or whether you just give it coordinates and it goes or something to that effect. I'm assuming it would take uh a pilot because you need someone to say, hey, if that you need to get on the back side of the building, see what's there, hey, what's going on at this door here, hey, go over here, and you know, you need somebody to be able to do that. So I'm assuming that that's a cost that uh they're not explaining here. Um but I love the idea. And the one thing when I did the research on this, so in the pod is the drone, obviously, but the pod also acts uh it's it's got robotic arms to do like battery changes. Uh the drone can carry other things, like it can carry Narcan, it can carry EpiPens, it can carry hiker lost hiker backpacks, it can carry an AED, um, it can carry uh all these little things. And then when it gets there, if it sees whoever is in distress, it might be able to drop whatever it needs uh down to the person to where they can be helped before first responders get there and then go from there. So it can it can be used very nicely. So I love this idea. I love the drones. Um I I I I'd like to see how much they cost, what do you need in grant money, do you need a pilot, do you n you know, all that kind of stuff, and I think that just takes um a little research. But if you want to look into this for your city or state or town or whatever, uh you can go to National League of Cities or Brink um as a website and you can find out all that kind of stuff. Uh if you have drones um and you're using something like this, uh let us know how that's working for you. I mean, a lot of people have drones, but it's in a case, and then you get to the scene and you deploy the drone. This just automatically goes. So I like the idea. I like the idea. But I'd love to hear your comments on that. Now the second one just every time I hear about one of these things, I get just so angry. But this is uh this goes to a larger problem of swatting. If you don't know what swatting is, swatting is um when uh somebody calls in to 911 and says, Hey, you know, this, this, this, and at this uh address and someone's got guns and they're they're barricaded in, you know, and the next thing you know the SWAT team shows up and they they might kick down the door or whatever. Um someone's gonna get hurt eventually during this. And it's all it's all a hoax. That's the thing. It's all a hoax. Um this happened in Morgan County, Alabama. A late night nine one one call reporting a shooting turned out to be a hoax. Pulling a large number of first responders away from the county and leaving fewer resources available for a real emergencies, according to Morgan County Sheriff Ron Puckett. It was on a Saturday night, I don't have the date here, dispatchers received a call from someone who claimed to have shot family members and left two guns on a counter before hanging up. It gets better. Deputies then received a second call reporting an armed man walking down a road, followed by a third call saying the man had barricaded himself inside a building. That sequence of calls led authorities to suspect that the reports were fabricated. Okay. Maybe there was more that make make it sound like that, but it it doesn't matter. Ron Puckett, the sheriff of Morgan County, said the incident was a swatting call, a fake 911 report designed to draw as many first responders as possible to a single address at one time. It's a waste of resources and certainly could cause harm to first responders, Puckett said. Quote, you've got a lot of empty space. You have a helicopter coming, for goodness sake. So I mean, there's a lot of resources coming to a bad call. See, he sounds very upset. He goes on to saying that pulling pulling responders off the streets makes it harder to reach people with genuine emergencies. He says it could cause a problem not only for first responders, but for the people in the community. Puckett said swatting calls are sometimes made so that someone can commit a crime elsewhere within the county while resources are concentrated at the false location. So you know it could be you could get time in jail. And unfortunately, if something was to happen where a life is lost, you could get charged with that too. The loss of that life. Hey, I'm all for it. But this really gosh, swatting just drives me absolutely insane and just makes me mad. We've had problems with this over the last at least five years that I can remember. I think it's been probably a little longer than that, probably over the next last ten years. The ones we've heard about l uh more recently are with politicians. They uh people call in and say, hey, this politician, blah, blah, blah, or this house that this politician lives at, blah da-da, you need to send SWAT or cops. Next thing you know, a whole SWAT team shows up and you know, late at night or whatever. Nothing worse than an idiot who thinks this is cute to do this. I think punishment should be worse if they ever find him. Um yeah. Uh I think they should be a victim of swatting um and not uh, you know, just calling I think swatting, caning, whatever. I'm kind of mean about that kind of stuff, but when it comes to you know people doing stupid stuff. So anyway, give us your comments. 911 Squirrel Podcast at gmail.com. If you have a if you have a comment on drones, or if you have a comment on swatting, by all means let us know. 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When you arrive, enter through the Sally Port, get your pictures and fingerprints taken, sign the liability waiver, then you're off to have the time of your life! Special discounts for military, retirees, and of course, first responders. Children under five get in free. So grab your friends and family and get over to Catastrophe Cove, where every emergency is a good time.

SPEAKER_01 27:53

And now everyone's favorite component of the job, the In service, where we have a discussion on certain procedures to improve our performance and deliver better outcomes. Let this InService begin.

SPEAKER_03 28:10

That's right. We're going to talk about leadership during our InService. So we brought in the former Director of Emergency Preparedness and Response for the South Carolina Department of Health. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Mr. Jamie Blair. How are you, sir? Doing great. How are you? I am doing well. Thank you for asking. How is the weather down there in good old South Carolina? Um it's bipolar weather here.

SPEAKER_00 28:45

Some days, you know, uh yesterday was 80, today is 50. So uh you never know what you're gonna get here.

SPEAKER_03 28:51

Well, we are talking about leadership today, and uh which is a good thing for everybody to know. And my first question for you is when you took a leadership role, what were your thoughts on how to approach the position?

SPEAKER_00 29:08

Oh, good question. Um, well, the the first thing when I took a leadership role, I wanted to um kind of go in and and evaluate uh the team, what uh what they did on a everyday basis, what what their goals were, what their struggles were, um, because part of my big part of my job was there to help them fight their battles and and support them. So um took a uh stance of having one-on-one meetings with them, um have them talk me through their their regular work processes and then tell me where their their roadblocks or headaches are so we could see what we could do to help alleviate some of those.

SPEAKER_03 29:49

See, I would consider that one of the most important uh things to do when uh you enter the leadership role, whatever that is, uh, to learn about the people that are now under you. I think that's important. Um another question I have is what were the areas that you were new, or let's let me re-ask that question. What were the areas that were new to you that a leadership role encompasses?

SPEAKER_00 30:20

Well, yeah, I think there always is. Um the positions that I've had down here in South Carolina in the government sector were all basically a hundred percent grant funded for one. So um budget was was a huge aspect of it. Finding out um going in and learning grants. That was one thing I had to do, learn how to write grants, learn how to manage grants, because I didn't have experience on the the level of the amount of dollars that I was accepting and figure out you know what was allowed, what wasn't, um what to do when somebody uh spends money the wrong way. Um but that was that was one huge thing. The the other thing was um going in and uh and finding out what kind of depth we had. Since we were emergency response and and preparedness, we need to make sure that um or I need to make sure that if somebody was out for any reason, we had somebody else that could step in and and fill the role. We had to make sure we had uh a succession planning uh in place which which was huge. Uh being uh a state that frequently gets hit with with hurricanes and uh tropical storms. Um that's our kind of our bread and butter with that, and had to make sure we had a basically contingent plan after contingency plan after contingency plan so we could keep going. And the biggest part of that is is with your staff and making sure they're trained properly and that they've they're cross-trained so they can pick up other duties as needed in an emergency or disaster.

SPEAKER_03 31:58

Oh, and also learning and planning for different contingencies in South Carolina compared to other states.

SPEAKER_00 32:05

Yeah, we we get a little bit of I know we used to joke that snow and ice kind of paralyzed us in in the Nashville area, but uh it really it really does here. We have very little equipment to uh remove that from the roads. Um, you know, because if we get, I think since I've been here in 2012, I've seen an accumulation of snow twice. And so it just very rarely very rarely happens here.

SPEAKER_03 32:34

In all actuality, I think there should be a contingency plan for all these people when it when they call for snow, they gotta go get all the eggs, get all the bread, get all the milk like it's a week. But it's gonna all gonna be gone within a couple of days. But so silly. So, so so so silly. Uh what were the surprises um that you had upon entering into a leadership role?

SPEAKER_00 33:06

Oh thank you. Some of the some of the the fun ones are you know, getting getting a good relationship with the staff so they felt comfortable calling me was was one thing. Um the uh other lesson that I had to learn was just the on the grant side, as we provided grants to uh to healthcare coalitions, which are uh includes fire departments, EMS, EMA at city and county level, hospitals, was um the I'll call it the widgets that people were asked for to buy to spend money on. And then just asking them how they're gonna maintain some of this stuff. And you know, nobody had a plan on how to maintain it. They just wanted to buy this stuff and set it on the shelf and never use it. Yeah, yeah. You know, you know, like uh buying uh buying mobile um cellular capabilities for vehicles or GTS tracking for vehicles. And it's like, okay, great, how are you gonna pay for the service next year? Yeah. Because this grant only covers one year. And just just the deer in the headlight look. So it it it became a a a big thing on almost every facet of the grant piece having to have education sessions for anybody that was applying. So they understood really what it involved. It didn't just involve, hey, we're getting free stuff. There's some there's some due diligence on our side we've got to do to to to maintain it. And uh then learning learning how to tell people no, we're not gonna apply for that because you you do not have a plan. Yeah. And so it was uh a a lot more learning to say no, I would say. And then and then and then saying, okay, we're gonna say no to this, but let's go back and let's try to develop a a way around it. Let's let's look at our options and see if there is something you can do or we can do to to make this work or a version of this work.

SPEAKER_03 35:12

Because everybody wants their toys and don't want to take the responsibility, I guess, for them.

SPEAKER_00 35:17

Yeah. Especially when when it's free money from buy grant.

unknown 35:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:24

Grants are grants are fantastic. They're but they do. They you yeah, everybody thinks about, you know, oh, I'm gonna get we're gonna get a new truck through a grant. Um, or we're gonna get this piece of equipment. But just like you said, when they they don't think about the long term, they just, oh, let's get the shiny new new thing. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:43

Yeah, we're gonna add, we're gonna add a new truck. Okay, well, how are you gonna pay for the staffing for that new truck? Or, you know, and and and the benefits and all, yes, the truck is an expensive cost, but the but the staff is is your long-term expense you gotta do. And then think about, you know, this truck's got a four or five year lifespan based on the amount of mileage that you're putting on it, what's your what's your replacement plan going to be? How are you gonna get money to replace it down the road and and keep it on the road to keep those people employed?

SPEAKER_03 36:13

That that's one thing about a leadership role. When you get into um, just like you were saying, you get into a leadership role and you're you're you're finally realizing that there's budgets and there's everything else that you don't think of when you're not in that role, where you're just uh the EMT or medic or the firefighter, uh, even you know, further up until you get into more of an administrative role. And grants are great and money is important, budgeting and everything, and nobody ever thinks about that until you're in this position. So uh that kind of aspect of it uh is new to a lot of people, and I think it's uh uh it it is great to to be able to go over that. Uh my last question uh as far as leadership goes is what would you tell someone entering a leadership role? What is the one thing that you would that you would want them to know about what to expect or or uh a piece of advice that would say, hey, you need to know this as you're entering a leadership role?

SPEAKER_00 37:26

Well, tough questionnaire. Um there's so many things I I I would say actually. I would say they I just say, you know, as as a new leader, take care of your people. Um you know, you can you can get along with them without them being your your best friends. Um you don't you don't necessarily want them to be your best friends. That opens up a whole nother a whole nother thing of issues. But you want you want them to you want to be some someone that they're comfortable with coming to with their issues and and also with their wins. Um you just don't want everything to always be everything's good, every report's good, because it's not going to be. You want them to bring the problems they're experiencing to so you can help help navigate through that.

SPEAKER_03 38:17

Cool. Yeah, always important. Uh I've always believed anyway that it's always important to um, like you said, uh take up for your employees, take care of your employees, support them, uh always have their backs, kind of a thing. So I'm glad, I'm very, very happy you said that. Now I want to get into the new organization that you are a part of, and I had to write this down because if I don't, then I'm really messed up. I want you to tell me all about this new organization uh you are with called uh the South Carolina Responders Support Initiative. Tell me all about it.

SPEAKER_00 38:59

Sure. I'll I'll give you a little background on how we got here. When when I moved to South Carolina in 2012, I kind of lost that uh, you know, a few months after we moved, I lost that that support network that you're used to at the fire hall or the EMS station. And uh the phone calls and the texts from from those people slowly uh went off. And um that's when um I become a different person. I become angry. I was not the nicest person to my to my wife and kids. And um finally uh realized, hey, I need some help and found out that hey, I have complex PTSD. And um from from years of EMS and working with FEMA on deployments and and and things like that. And uh when I tried to find some help here, I was uh often told, well, you wasn't a responder in this state, so we can't help you. Or we we don't know you, so we don't trust you. So um ended up getting getting some help. Um I have a uh a service dog now that stays with me all the time, named named Ziva, uh a black Dutch Shepherd, which is just wonderful and really changed my life. But uh talking to the uh a a fellow emergency manager from another state agency who was uh a retired paramedic firefighter basically, and we were talking about challenges with this, and we said, well, you know, we both really want to find a way to to do this. So uh I sat down for about two or three months talking, and on uh June 21st, 2004, we incorporated the South Carolina RSI and we're a 501c3, and what we uh we do is we're we're dedicated to helping first responders, disaster personnel, and their families um and help them identify um the emotional and psychological challenges they have and and find ways to get to get through it. Uh we have a peer support program, we have peer support teams that we deploy out to uh agencies when they need them because if you know a lot of agencies have peer support teams, but uh a lot of times if there's an incident, their peer support teams are impacted too. So we will go out and backfill them. We have a public safety chaplaincy program that uh we provide uh public safety chaplains to uh agencies. We have a uh canine therapy program. We currently have uh nine canine handlers and ten canines that are all therapy dogs. We take those to we take those to in services uh at departments, we do uh station visits. Um if there's a if they have a critical incident or anything, they they need it, we do that. Um and then we do just other types of uh wellness services where we we hook them up through to different counselors, we can do referrals and things like that if they if they need it. But we we also you know follow up and uh concentrate with uh classes we develop and give for the families on how they can support their their spouse or loved one that's a first responder, how they can identify these uh these signs. We've even had um families of uh falling first responders that have joined some of our stuff. We do a uh one of our big things we do is once a once a month, first Wednesday of every month, we do a a Zoom call, but it's a uh peer support um class, and it's kind of developed based upon uh like a 12-step program. And people can come in and learn methods to uh be better grounded, um, learn ways to identify if if they're having a crisis where they can go for help and um just reach out to us that way. Everybody we have on staff is all volunteer at this time. Maybe one day it'll it'll turn into something bigger and better. Uh we, you know, just operate on on donations. We have a few corporate sponsors, do some fundraisers every year. Nice. Um the the other thing that we've gotten into very recently is um we've been uh assisting at funerals of fallen retired first responders. Where uh a lot of times uh the family will call and say, Hey, there so and so was a paramedic here for so many years. We would love to have a have an ambulance or have somebody here, but they they're they've retired here, so we coordinate that with the with the agencies and we work very closely with the uh the state emergency medical services association on on doing all that. But um that's kind of the the the gist of it. We started two years ago, um didn't really plan on doing a peer support team, but uh it's turned out quite big. We've got about thirty-five volunteers that are very active right now. We've got I've got a group right now actually at a a funeral of a retired uh paramedic today and uh and serving there and then we'll present a a flag to the to the widow there for that as well. But that's kind of um what we started and um just trying to find a way to to help because once you leave first responders if you don't have those friends and connections and contacts um and nobody to talk to or nobody to deal with all those thoughts that are still running through your head and all those things you've seen it can it can really catch up with you quick.

SPEAKER_03 44:43

Yeah that's a that's a major thing. I mean everybody talks about camaraderie within the fire hall or EMS hall or within the law enforcement shift or uh anything and that camaraderie is is probably the most important when it comes to a first responder's first uh mental health yeah and like I said once you what what once you leave or you move away you you can very easily lose that.

SPEAKER_00 45:10

Yeah and um you know the that like you as as I know you know and a lot of people probably listening know that uh one of one of the best times of the job is that shift change drinking coffee with the between the offgoing and oncoming shift. Yeah and you know hearing what's going on defusing with each other complaining about your bosses complaining about your pay complaining about the politicians all that stuff and um you know and there's a lot of that stuff that we as first responders do there but we don't take home to our spouses and we don't want to take it home to our spouses. Right. And um so um or else they'd throw us out um so yeah we're we're just trying to help help bridge that gap and do that because there's way too many first responder suicides out there these days of current and and and past ones and you know first responders studies are coming out now that says first responders are are involved in more critical incidents over their career than you know even the military folks. Military folks might see you know two or three of deployment but a first responder can see seven to eight hundred over their career. And then we're expected to you know finish that paperwork or not and go right to the next one and forget the last one and keep going. And that that's the that's the stuff that that catches up with everybody. So oh yeah and did you say that this has only been uh this has only started two years ago yes wow started two years ago and we have uh it's grown very fast a lot faster than we we planned on that's awesome that's fantastic just two years but it just shows you how much it's needed I mean not only in South Carolina but throughout the US or any any first responders really yeah and we've um I mean examples of it's been wonderful examples of things that we've we've had to do um there was a a paramedic that was from North Carolina um a few months ago that was on vacation in Florida and stopped at to help at a car wreck and she was killed hitting killed and um we uh helped organize um basically the the bridge tribute as they returned her body through the state where we had first responders at all the major all the bridges the the the flags up you know with the fire trucks and all of that it's it's the the little things like that that people don't don't think about that mean a lot to the first responders in the first responder community. Yeah and so um you know there's always always something bad going on somewhere and like I said the key the the key was you know uh like I said a lot of a lot of the peer support and the people that that help especially on these smaller departments they're still on the trucks a lot of times they're involved with the call and so we wanted to give them you know some backfill if they needed help they could they could have somebody to call to to help them.

SPEAKER_03 48:15

Well this is just fantastic. If anybody needs help uh if you are are there in South Carolina or you and you need help or you want to help or any of the listeners uh across uh South Carolina or the United States uh that wants to start an organization like this how would they go about getting in contact with you? Sure well first our our website uh wwwsc.org um or they can uh email me at jamiej a m i e at scenrsi.org okay and you we're we're all about teaming up with other states and programs in other states that'll help us with you know each other refer people that that we need to um also you know doing cross training with uh different peer support teams as well well I want to thank you so much for joining us to talk about leadership and of course your wonderful organization the South Carolina Responders Support Initiative Thank you sir ladies and gentlemen Mr.

SPEAKER_02 49:28

Jamie Blair thank you so much Brad Greetings and welcome to another edition of the Grand Square Theatre where true stories are told in a theatrical style this episode's recital is an uplifting drama of redemption brought forth by a director who has seen Shawshank a thousand times sit back and enjoy this wonderful saga entitled The Right Instructor every year it's the same old thing a batch of new recruits come to the academy eager wide eyed and greener than a teenager who just trugged their first six pack.

SPEAKER_03 50:17

As they walk into the building a first glance at each recruit is performed judging the book by its cover is never a good idea but it is slightly amusing to figure out who will be good and who won't. Myself and the other instructors make bets on who that will be Matthew came to us in the spring of 1998 right before they started scaring us with all the Y2K talk. You may have seen a video on YouTube about it. He was of average height above average build and not in a good way I'm almost positive in his life the word Jim was only a name and not a place he walked through the door put his gear down and stood nervously waiting for orientation to begin he never made a sound. He was my horse to bet on over the next few weeks Matthew took to the classwork well scoring high on tests physically he just lacked confidence which was justified considering his lack of strength and endurance. Always last on a run or in calisthenics usually followed with a clearing of the stomach boy that grass has never been greener. That was Matthew's routine for a little while. For him though hope is a good thing. His confidence took a major blow when it was time to go through the maze. Put on the SCBA, start the air, black out the mask, and feel your way around tight spaces, small openings, and crawl around like an army grunt fighting your own enemies. For Matthew, that enemy was claustrophobia. Many don't realize they have it until they are in an MRI machine being told not to move and when to breathe Matthew started the maze just like every other physical training with butterflies and a deliberateness came to my mind a few times that Matthew must think he is the tortoise in the old story with the hair. But even the tortoise moved with more determination than that. Through the first half of the maze Matthew made it through slow but okay he was feeling his way around as if he was mapping the structure and all contents for a real estate listing. The kid should have been a home inspector. Then something happened that made me feel secure in my bed the freak out. No not a P Diddy party like some of you degenerates are thinking but a mental breakdown that one recruit always gets in a confined space section. For the most part one of two things happens they can be talked through or they quit. Matthew's freak out was different. It involved flailing arms and legs which resulted in a broken maze and revised training schedule. Matthew was distraught and hysterical verbalizing his disappointment but before he could even mention the word quit one of our instructors got to Matthew calmed him down and then took him under his wing that instructor needed a new project and Matthew was it seen and done it all. His reputation as an instructor is legendary Terry might be the most gung-ho firefighter of all time you will learn there's no other choice in Terry's world firefighting is a calling that requires your complete attention. Any nonsense Terry will let you have it but as long as you don't give up Terry is your biggest cheerleader over the next few days until the maze was repaired Matthew was engaged in a simple but unorthodox game to defeat his foe claustrophobia Terry made Matthew wear his mask and SCBA breathing air to class and at night when the recruits were relaxing or playing games. Terry also had Matthew crawl under chairs and beds. It was slightly distracting to be teaching class with Darth Vader breast sounds emanating in the room I even had the Empire music playing one day when Matthew walked in. Matthew had a heck of a time playing pool with the others one night but he kept at it must have gone through 20 bottles in his three days Terry made sure to remind Matthew with brute honesty Matthew will have to learn to control his emotions to pass. Matthew kept pushing through now that the maze is repaired the time has come for Matthew's moment of truth he wasn't first but he wasn't last a crowd gathered as Matthew stepped forward and crouched to his hands and knees. Suddenly the waiting recruits were clapping and chanting Matthew's name Matthew's attitude became grit and determination. And he's off the gate he quickly found his rhythm and blew through the first half the recruits that had already finished gathered at the confined space area when Matthew arrived. They were yelling encouragement as he started into the belly of the beast Matthew dodged, dipped, dove, ducked, and dodged his way through he emerged from the other side roaring applause as he finished the maze with a newfound confidence. At the finish, Matthew stood up and faced a man who had the look of a proud papa. Terry hugged Matthew, punched his chest and yelled, that's how you do it. The entire room broke out in elation as if the song jump started playing Matthew crawled through 20 feet of confined space and came out clean on the other side. For the rest of the time at the academy Matthew thrived. He completed the training with more self-confidence and earned respect of his fellow recruits. He had made it over the years Matthew worked his way up in the fire service from rookie to captain building a reputation of being a firefighter's firefighter something Matthew modeled after instructor he once had sometimes I think of Matthew and how he cost me a hundred dollar bar tab for the bet I lost. But I take joy because I witnessed his victory. I am guilty of superficial judgment and dismissiveness I'd like to go back and tell my younger self to be open and look for the right stuff in people. Going forward that is my lesson applied to realize that for some souls it just takes the right instructor okay first of all this is the Jamie Blair who we interviewed for the end service today thank you so much for sharing your story. That is one thing that you didn't have to do you didn't have to go into all those details but you did and that's hopefully your story inspires others to get the help that they need. Because PTSD is real in first responders and uh yeah thank you for your story. For everybody else when it comes to this we are all part of the world's biggest support system. We really are we all know what goes what what we all deal with we all know all that stuff. If you want to be a part of the solution all you you don't have to be a therapist you don't have to be a psychologist all you have to do if somebody needs to get something off their chest something out of their head all you have to do is sit and listen. You don't have to say anything just be engaged and attentive to listening let it get let them get out get it out of their system let it get it out of their head if you need help if you're feeling just whatever it is please please go get it I I can't implore you enough to go talk to your supervisors talk to your captains your chiefs your directors they will know where to send you at least get the ball rolling to get the help you need please I'm and every time I read about um a responder that uh just they either lose it or oh if they commit suicide that it just drives me absolutely crazy. I cannot stand it I am so sick and tired of it. We all need the help we really really do. I mean really everybody single responder at least once a month could go talk to somebody I think that's that's my feeling I think it I think it would behoove everybody to go talk to a therapist once a month just to you know even if things are fine and you don't feel anything it's still you know it still would be good. So please do that. Now I'm off that soapbox but this is the end of the second episode of 911 Squirrel. Hopefully you had some fun hopefully you learned something uh if you have stories if you have comments if you have questions any of the if you want to you got a recipe great uh anything you can possibly say do please email us at 911 podcast at gmail dot com or go to Facebook and Instagram under 911 Squirrel podcast and you can make the comments there. We can't thank you enough for listening and remember you are part of the team please help each other stay safe and God bless you thank you very much