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Greg was at the Chicago writers conference last weekend. Two attendees wanted to see his full manuscripts.
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Ed mentioned the Badger Game, it wasn’t pretty, but it was fun to watch. He also gave a happy buck for the Lion’s Team who won - fellow Rotarian Gerard is fun.
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Gerard mentioned the school play is coming up.
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Ken mentioned the University of Illinois win.
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Debb went to a Rotary meeting in Guatemala City. It was an international, both hybrid meeting with in person and zoom. There were locals, those from India, and from the United States. It was cool to see how it goes and to hear of their successes.
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Barb is moving to the new house April 6th.
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Raina mentioned that Legendary Lake Mills underwent a Transformational Strategy with partners Main Street National and Wisconsin Economic Development. This involved a survey to the community (great response), focus groups, and strategy planning. It was inspiring, and there are great things to come for Lake Mills.
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Jenny spoke with her mother-in-law who is recovering from surgery. She is doing better, able to walk stairs, eat soft foods, and recover.
Sheena has a masters in business. She was working in finance and operations, but had an interest in first responder health. This was sparked by a child's death, which was devastating. She looked into what resources there are for first responders. There are many stigmas that exist amongst mental health for first responders.
She began studying first responder mental health in partnership with the President at the Psychology Center in Madison. A result of this research grew a wellness program that aimed to bridge a gap for first responders, give a confidential outlet, and more communication on stressors that are common in this line of work. A struggle that arose was how to make this wellness program mutually beneficial. To overcome this barrier she used her educational degree to produce metrics that can be used by those staffing police, ems, fire departments, etc.
An understanding grows while working with these first responders. She has found that this line of work has a “masculine feel”, for lack of a better word, grumpy people. Working and networking with these groups leads to more open communications, and beneficial results.
A focus is on trauma, family relationships, support networks, self esteem, world view, and more. Many times first responders isolate themselves from their families as a response to their difficult job. It is important to ensure that first responders continue to live their lives in a healthy way. It is easy to become jaded by work and world view, but having a support network can help with this. Another focus of importance is working on a future view. This ensures that there is an optimistic feeling for their future, and that first responders are ready for a transition to retirement.
Overall, the goal is to overall help first responders live a happy life, utilize mental health support, and have a trusted place to talk.
Question: What happens when you talk with someone who maybe should not be in this job?
Answer: It depends on the situation. There are some who are just “done” with this type of work. Oftentimes she will communicate this with a manager, ensure this employee takes a wellness day, and then discusses options for the future. This involves asking what this person would enjoy doing, if they were not in their current position.
Rotarian, Greg, stated that as his experience working as a firefighter it can be an extremely toxic work environment, and detrimental to mental health. While he was working, many were told to "suck it up", and he is so happy to hear that there is more resources for first responders. He thanks Sheena for her work in this field.
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