PTSD employees compensate first responders on the move

The state Senate last week approved a proposal to expand the program to include people with the disease.

First responders diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder moved one step closer to being entitled to workers’ compensation in Pennsylvania.

The state Senate on Wednesday approved a proposal to expand the program to include people with the disease. Twenty-five other states have already done so, according to Rep. Jenn O’Mara, D-Springfield, who sponsored similar legislation in the House.

O’Mara said her father, a Philadelphia firefighter whom she called her hero, died by suicide in 2003.

“First responders are heroes, but not superheroes” she said in May when the lower chamber approved the bill. “We must make mental health care more accessible to prevent tragedies like the one my family went through.”

On Wednesday, Sen. Camera Bartolotta, D-Washington, recalled O’Mara’s story and her own experience speaking to a 911 dispatcher who helped her care for her dying husband.

“There are too many stories like that,” Bartolotta said. “It traumatizes and impacts a family for life.”

“I understand, I appreciate and honor these 911 operators with all my heart,” she later added.

State troopers, firefighters, paramedics and peace officers may be considered at diagnosis. There are approximately 100,000 first responders in Pennsylvania.

Analysis from the The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s estimate released in 2018 estimated that 30% of first responders will develop mental illness, compared to 20% in the general population.

Further research National Institutes of Health estimates released in 2022 suggest that up to 10% of emergency responders will develop PTSD.

Pennsylvania’s Emergency Response Network is facing an unprecedented staffing crisis as workers sacrifice their mental and physical health to serve others – particularly in the state’s rural communities.

The bill will now move to the House of Representatives for consideration.