1. For this week’s discussion, I chose to explore the National Wildland Fire and Aviation Critical Incident Management Website. There were several topics included in the website that provided resources and guidance for personnel who have been involved in or affected by critical incidents. The topic that I am most interested in is “Suicide Prevention, Intervention, and Postvention”. Before attending nursing school I had spent some time working in the fire service. I remember frequent meetings discussing resources available to us should we be involved in a critical incident. I also remember being taught that firefighters are more likely to die by suicide than in the line of duty and that the incidence of suicide is much higher among firefighters than the general population (California State Firefighters’ Association, 2024). This is why I decided to focus on the topic of suicide prevention. The article I’m focusing on teaches an acronym called (Save) “A LIFE”. The steps are to ask and assess, listen, intervene, find additional help, and encourage self-help (National Interagency Wildland Fire and Aviation Critical Incident Stress Management Program, n.d.). I know that this sounds too simple, but intervention doesn’t always have to be much more than being present and engaged. Despite having been taught about CISM in the past, I hadn’t been taught much about “postvention”. When a member of a close-knit team commits suicide, the stress and loss that their colleagues feel can often lead to more incidents of suicide. This means that we should remain diligent and check on our colleagues even more so following a suicide.
2. I have selected the site Therapy Dogs International (TDI) because I have dogs as well that provide a lot of emotional support to me so I thought this would be an interesting subject to cover. Therapy Dogs International is a volunteer organization that was founded in New Jersey in 1976 and is dedicated to regulation, testing, and registration of therapy dogs and their volunteer handlers for visits to places such as nursing homes, hospitals, other institutions, and anywhere where therapy dogs are needed. It is a non-profit organization that is supported through annual memberships and donations and has volunteer dogs and handlers in every state in the U.S. and some in Canada (Therapy Dogs International, n.d.). One of the informational pages that had the greatest impact on me is their “Our Programs” page. There are places in the community where I know therapy dogs are found in some events such as the hospital, libraries, and schools. However, from the website I learned that they participate in programs that I would not have thought of. For example, one of the programs they have is Disaster Stress Relief Dogs (DSRD). If anyone has the chance to visit this website, I would check out this page because it shows the disasters they participated in but also statements from victims of the events and how the therapy dogs had helped them. It lists numerous disasters where therapy dogs were sent to help provide stress relief and cope with the event. Some well known disasters where Therapy Dogs International participated in were the aftermaths of the 9/11 Attack in 2001, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Taft Union High School shooting in 2013, Boston Marathon Bombings in 2013, Orlando Night Club mass shooting in 2016, and Hurricane Harvey in 2017, just to name only a few (Therapy Dogs International, n.d.)! Overall, I was well-informed by the Therapy Dogs International website and I learned so much about their contributions to community stress relief throughout the nation.
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