Municipalities and local fire departments are preparing for the implementation of presumptive legislation to assist firefighters and other emergency responders suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The Supporting Ontario’s First Responders Act (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), 2016 was introduced in the provincial legislature on Feb. 18.
If passed, it would allow faster access to WSIB (Workplace Safety and Insurance Board) compensation and proper treatment for first responders. Under presumptive legislation, if an emergency services worker covered by the presumption is diagnosed, it would be presumed to be work-related and the worker’s claim would be accepted.
“This proposed legislation will require employers to implement PTSD prevention plans for first responders and that they will be made public,” states the Association of Municipalities of Ontario AMO in briefing notes presented at the March 1 Minto council meeting.
“AMO members need to ensure that their corporate municipal staff update their human resources policies, practices, and plans accordingly.”
In a report to council, Minto Fire Chief Chris Harrow stated, “The new legislation will extend to all full-time and volunteer firefighters from the beginning with no minimum years of service. It offers protection to all of our firefighters, who are subjected to many stressors throughout their career.
“It offers peace of mind to the families of the firefighters knowing there will be coverage if their partner has a diagnosis of PTSD.”
Harrow continued, “Our firefighters need the care, because it not only affects their role as volunteer firefighters, but it also hampers them from working their full-time jobs. It is the town’s responsibility to look after the volunteer firefighters so that they can return to their regular job; it is not their full-time employer’s responsibility.”
Harrow, vice-president of the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs (OAFC), stated the emerging issue was discussed long before the legislation was prepared.
The OAFC has brought a program, The Road to Mental Readiness, to Ontario. It started in the military and has been adopted by police and now fire services.
“It is a program that teaches all firefighters how to recognize the signs and symptoms of an OSI (occupational stress injury) and what treatments are available. It identifies where to refer the person and emphasizes to not ignore the situation,” stated Harrow, noting two trainers in Wellington County are prepared to roll out the training to all firefighters.
Harrow reported the Wellington County Fire Chiefs Association is meeting to put together a peer support team that would involve individuals from each fire station in the county trained to work with individuals identified as suffering an OSI. They would be equipped to refer the individual to medical professionals and ensure they receive care.
The training is planned for this year.
Harrow noted the new legislation could affect WSIB rates moving forward. He pointed out rates grew 26% as a result of the increase in firefighter cancer claims after presumptive legislation covering various types of cancers was introduced in 2007.
“A similar increase might occur in the next few years due to the new legislation as well as ongoing claims,” stated Harrow.
Councillor Jean Anderson questioned why there is no mention of emergency room nurses the proposed legislation, which covers police, firefighters, paramedics, emergency dispatchers, correctional workers, and First Nations emergency response teams.
“Especially in our small hospitals people do not always come in by ambulance,” said Anderson.
“They get driven up by their loved ones, by their family members, they come in giving birth in the back seats of cars, they come in with motor vehicle accidents, they come in having a cardiac arrest, and in our little tiny hospital there’s only three nurses in the building. There’s no physicians there; they would certainly fall under (the at-risk group).
“We watch people that we are not able to save because we can’t get a doctor there in time … I don’t know where we take it because I realize it’s provincial … but I think that once again they’re forgetting that our little rural hospitals are different.”
Council accepted Harrow’s report and the AMO correspondence as information and agreed to advise AMO of its concern about the omission of emergency room nurses from the proposed legislation.
