All first responders quickly learn in about the first six months on the job that there was a sentence written somewhere in the job description that says, “…and other duties as assigned.” It is a catch-all sentence in this vocation that tells first responders that they are going to have to learn quickly how to find a way to solve just about any problem they are presented with and they will be held accountable for it. They also find out quickly that they will be provided very little resources to do those tasks and little or no training on the matter. The resolve of these Guardians to problem solve is amazing. If you ever get to speak to anyone in public service who has more than five years on the job, just ask them if they have ever had to do anything in their career that they were not specifically trained to do but had to figure out. You will quickly learn that they had to learn how to be plumbers, auto mechanics, pest control, youth counselors, electricians, etc. These individuals have a role in society that is quite unique and they often group together to share with one another the problem-solving strategies they used to resolve the situation. The solutions they present are often even more efficient than those individuals who have the training and resources.
I will share a secret with those who are not in the field. First responders don’t like the feeling of not knowing how to solve a situation or leaving matters unresolved. It bothers them personally when they are asked to solve a problem that they have not been exposed to previously but they learn quickly from their experiences. They bank those experiences in the toolbox and they share what they learned with each other. It does get frustrating after a while when people tend to ask these individuals to divert from their vocation to carry out a task that might take time away from others who need their primary services. You could almost say that people believe that they have a Google Search engine type mind when it comes to their job. Of course, the fix to most problems is having a resource to give the public to call so they can solve their own non-emergency problem(s). 9-1-1 is the only phone number in the world that must be answered and any first responder will tell you they have responded to numerous calls that might not have amounted to an emergency if people had planned ahead or utilized their own resources. It’s a number that many people dial when they feel they didn’t know who else to call and they knew someone would come to help them. I am in no way advocating for anyone to call 9-1-1 for anything that would take a first responder away from an actual emergency but if you ask any police officer, EMS/Fire Department personnel, or Emergency Telecommunicator they will tell you they have sent first responders to help people in non-emergency situations quite often.
Ask a first responder to find a missing child in a forest and they will call each other and show up off-duty and on-duty along with so many resources to help. They come together with phone numbers, volunteer groups, food trucks, drones, helicopters, horses, tracking dogs, portable restrooms for volunteers, tents, etc. because they know who to call or they know someone who knows someone who can help. First responders go to people’s homes to deliver gifts during the holidays, they deliver meals to poor families, they volunteer at food banks, they build houses for veterans, and they provide counseling resources to family violence victims, and I could give so many other examples that it is just amazing to think about. They are some of the most resourceful people in the world and you can often hear them using the words, “I know a guy” and they actually do “know a guy” who can address the problem and get it done no matter how strange the situation is or the resource needed.
I felt that it was important to the readers of this article to understand how having all of these responsibilities impact the human beings that they are inside. These men and women carry a huge burden on their shoulders in their chosen vocation and by nature of their career responsibilities, they see themselves as other people’s problem solvers. If you work in public service, I would like to remind you that you are appreciated for being so resourceful but I must tell you that you are a human being. People ask for our help because they don’t know who else to call and at times first responders tend to get frustrated that those people put themselves in those situations so they work with them to quickly resolve their problems and they offer them resources so they don’t have to call back. When it comes to first responders, they tend to see themselves in a different light. It may be difficult for them to admit that they need help with real human problems and they rarely ask others for help even if they need it.
First responders have a conditioned protective outer frame. It starts out healthy and with a solid shell that is professional and they take pride in. This conditioning allows them to face the world’s miseries with confidence. They need it to do their jobs and take on the responsibilities of facing the good, the bad, and the ugly. In the first few years of their vocation, they are conditioned physically much like a finely tuned car. After these Guardians put miles on, they see the “Check Engine” light come on and they address it immediately. Early on they keep up with self-care and maintenance in personal health, positive mental health, they keep up with training in their vocational skills, and they invest in healthy relationships with family and friends. The car drives on and over time the paint fades, now there is a strange clicking sound, but as they drive on the rocky roads of the paths least traveled, the seemingly well-built car seems to keep pressing forward. The “Check Engine” light comes on again and they ask themselves, “Is it worth paying attention to or should I keep driving on?” The last time they addressed it there wasn’t much of a problem so they ignore it and move on. First responders don’t like the perception or the thought of asking for handouts. It is not a term they wish to be associate with but as the maintenance checks get ignored, the minor problems compound and wear them down.
When the world’s problem solvers’ “Check engine” light comes on they risk breaking down along a path and they get to a point where they feel like they don’t have anyone they can call. They really don’t want to call 9-1-1 but they fail to realize that they are possibly in an emergency situation that could impact their career, their health, their relationships, or all of the above. Life happens, even to them, but unfortunately, instead of asking for help along the way and keeping up with self-maintenance, they are in the same situation as those non-emergency call type situations. I would like to remind them that there is no one better to ask for help than a fellow problem solver? First responders will face life events and it is healthy maintenance to reset the “Check Engine” light by reaching out to fellow problem solvers and ask for a hand. A hand-up is not the same as a handout and there are brothers and sisters ready to help.
We need to remember that someone in our vocation, “knows a guy” who actually knows a guy and all of the resources we find to help others are also available to each of us. If it’s a child care issue, a home repair problem, problems in a relationship, an illness, a financial matter, or whatever the problem may be, there are resources for first responders that work just as well on us as those we serve. We need to pay attention to others as well and take note of those who work with us by offering a hand-up to each other. We need to remember that suicide rates and divorce are highest among first responders and we don’t want our brothers and sisters to break down on a noble path or ever feel alone. Offer to help each other out. We are human first and first responders by vocation so the human being takes priority. A hand-up is not a handout, reset your “Check Engine” light my brothers and sisters, I noticed that it’s been on for a while now. By the way, I know a guy, you are not alone.