Dallas should extend mental health leave to firefighters | Opinion
The Dallas city council is considering a proposal to extend mental health leave to Dallas firefighters.The Dallas City Council will soon consider a new policy that would allow firefighters and paramedics who experience a traumatic event while on duty to take paid time off to care for their mental health. We wholeheartedly support it.
The city approved a similar provision for police in October, after a new state law went into effect requiring law enforcement agencies to create mental health leave policies for peace officers impacted by an on-duty traumatic incident. But that law didn’t require firefighters or other high-stress jobs to be included.
At a recent meeting of the council’s Public Safety Committee, council member Cara Mendelsohn called it “urgent” for the city to extend this benefit. “We have to make sure we have the resources available to help them,” she said. “They’re seeing horrible traffic accidents with mangled bodies. They’re working on people, lifesaving operations, that aren’t always successful. It’s a very difficult job.”
Mendelsohn is right about the stress of the job. A Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesman told us the department has lost two firefighters to suicide in the past few months. According to a 2021 report from the National Institutes of Health, firefighters are more than three times more likely to attempt suicide than the general population. Firefighters have an increased prevalence of suicidal ideation, plans and attempts compared to the population at large .
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