Standing Strong: The Impact of NFFF and FRCE | S5 E21

SPEAKER_07 0:00

I've had two incident commanders separately tell me that they probably wouldn't be walking on this earth had it not been for that peer support and that I C to IC program that allows them to connect, be with other peers, and really just be able to move on and deal with the unique grief I think that occurs when uh you're the incident commander at one of these horrible incidents. It encompasses the entire mission when we do a stairclimb, honoring our fallen, supporting the families, preventing line of duty deaths and injuries. I've had a mom who lost a son in a vehicle accident, and her two kids went to kids camp. And after uh the kids came back, she said, I got my son back.

Voiceover 0:46

Welcome to Responder Resilience, along with my co-host, Bonnie Rimoli, LCSW EMT. I'm David Dashinger. Today we're joined by Victor Stagnaro. He's the CEO of the National Fallen Firefighter Foundation and the First Responder Center for Excellence. And from honoring those who've made the ultimate sacrifice to addressing the mental health and wellness challenges faced by first responders, we're going to explore how NEEF and FRCE are making a profound impact. We invite you to like and subscribe, YouTube, Responder Resilience, Facebook, Responder TV, LinkedIn, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and go to our website, respondertv.com, for past episodes and get information. We'll be right back to speak with Victor after this.

SPEAKER_04 1:27

In this family, more of us die by our own hands and by the hazards of the job.

SPEAKER_03 1:32

In this family, up to a quarter of 911 telecommunicators have symptoms of post-traumatic stress. In this family, our mental health and wellness are in high risk, while responders are quietly suffering.

SPEAKER_04 1:44

In this family, many struggle with job-related stress, burnout, injury, state disruptions, substance abuse, and relationship problems. In this family, we had helped the helpers.

Bonnie Rumilly 1:56

With vital information and resources, resilience strategies, and success stories of overcoming the obstacles.

Voiceover 2:06

Welcome to Responder Resilience. We co-host retired lieutenant David Dashinger, Dr. Stacey Raymond, and Bonnie Remoli, LCSW, EMTB.

SPEAKER_00 2:31

We gather to pay tribute to 140 firefighters who died in the line of duty.

Voiceover 2:42

He's the CEO of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, NEEF, and he's got over 40 years in the fire service. His involvement with NIF began in 1998 as the first incident commander for the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial, and he started his career as a volunteer firefighter in Silver Spring, Maryland. Later joined the Prince George's County Fire EMS Department and rose to the Chief of Operations. In 2010, he became the MEEF's Director of Fire Service Programs focusing on reducing line of duty deaths. He was promoted to managing director in 2018 and appointed CEO in June 2023, overseeing the NEEF and the First Responder Center for Excellence to enhance first responder safety through education and research initiatives. Victor, warm welcome to responder resilience.

SPEAKER_07 3:31

Thanks, David. Appreciate the opportunity. Yes, and uh sometimes it runs me instead of uh me running it, but uh I'm privileged to do the work we do and and uh to have a tremendous team that uh that supports all of our efforts.

Bonnie Rumilly 3:46

Well, it's wonderful to meet you and thank you. It's quite impressive, all the things that you currently do and that you've done in the past. So thank you for all of that service at large.

SPEAKER_07 3:57

Thank you. Appreciate that. Yeah, it's uh you know, every one of us starts off, especially if you know if you start off a career in the fire service, you never know where you're gonna where you're gonna end up. But um, yeah, I've just been very fortunate along the way. And uh it's actually interesting if if you got a minute, and I guess you do. Um You know, I uh we were walking through uh Firehouse Expo back on the in the day when it was in Baltimore. Uh I was Chief Ron Sardecki's executive officer for the Purse Rouge County Fire Department at the time, and um we uh we ran into Hal Bruno, who was the uh the chair of the board, and he said, you know, we want to we want to bring the incident command system to the memorial weekend. And uh of course the foundation was started in '92, so you know, it hadn't been that many years since they'd been doing the memorial. And um, so Ron turned to me and said, Hey, do you think we can find somebody to do that? And I thought, that seems pretty interesting. So I picked myself, and uh that's kind of how I got started with the foundation. Uh once you've come to come build a memorial, uh, it's pretty hard not to want to come back and and find ways to support. Um, it's really a reset point, and of course, this past weekend we honored 140 uh firefighters who've uh served their communities bravely, and um so it's just a special moment, even a reset point for us as an organization. So really grateful to do the work that that we do and uh able to support the families and and try to reduce flat of duty deaths and injuries.

Voiceover 5:29

Well, you're you're doing that on many different fronts, and then we're looking forward to diving into all of that. I want to just touch on something that I discovered, um, kind of looking up some of your background, and and I'd love for you to elaborate on it. We just finished recording an amazing episode about some of the uh sort of the early days of EMS and some of the origins of things that we take for granted today. But um, I noticed that you authored a chapter in the fire engineering's handbook for firefighter one and two on EMS and the fire service. What was that um what was that like for you?

SPEAKER_07 5:58

Well, yeah, it was it was quite a privilege to be asked to do that. Um uh I knew somebody who was working on the book and and they were looking for somebody to uh write that EMS uh chapter. And at the time I was uh chief of EMS for the fire fire EMS department in Christ Rouge County. So uh yeah, I thought, well, it might fit for me to do it. Although I was never a medic. Uh at the time I was overseeing the medics, and um, you know, what a phenomenal group of people, you know, truly, truly professionals in in the in our fire service. So um, you know, I just took uh you know the knowledge that we all learn as EMTs, you know, it was nothing uh nothing, I don't think anything too innovative in that chapter out of when it comes to just you know basic EMS related um work. Uh but it was uh you know quite a privilege. And then the uh the really other the other really fun and unique piece about that was uh be able to use pictures from our own department. So we had a recruit class going on at the time. So um, you know, they were going through their EMT training. So just being able to get a photographer and and uh you know get those those pictures uh that are in that book, uh, which I thought was kind of fun for uh for our recruits who were going through the training at the time, uh, to be able to have that as you know kind of a a memento, a moment in time when they were you know uh going through their training. So um yeah, it was a real privilege to be able to do that.

Voiceover 7:27

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Bonnie Rumilly 8:45

So, Victor, in the beginning, you gave a very brief outline of National Fallen Firefighters, but can you take us a little more in depth on the mission and some of the services that you provide? I know you have this wonderful remembrance um annually, but in addition to that, what is your mission?

SPEAKER_07 9:03

Yeah, so we were created um by Congress in 1992. Uh, we was uh a Maryland senator who knew that the National Memorial had been built in 1981 at the U.S. Fire Administration. And he went to a um a uh uh police week in Washington, D.C. and thought, well, who does this for the fire service? And at the time there was no one. So he introduced legislation, uh very bipartisan, passed. And the mission is to honor every firefighter that dies in the line of duty. Uh we support those uh those departments and then to support their families uh and then to work to reduce our line of duty deaths and injuries, so we have fewer firefighters to honor, fewer families to support. So throughout the year, um it culminates at like I mentioned earlier at the uh national ceremony, uh, our national uh ceremony to honor every fallen firefighter that dies in the line of duty. Uh, as I mentioned, 140 this past year. It was 226 in previous in the previous year. And um, and we're we're gonna be honoring uh over 170 FGAY members who have yet to be honored at the National Memorial this coming October. We also offer uh kids' camp, uh, which is extraordinarily moving. Uh we're gonna be doing it in the Richmond area uh this coming year. It was in the Indianapolis area last year. About 60 kids whose um whose loved one has died in the line of duty. Uh it's extraordinarily moving. It's uh you know, they do wellness circles and and they they they connect um at their age groups. So uh and we have just tremendous stories of of kids who go through kids' camp and then they come back to be big buddies because every fire every every loved one of a fallen firefighter gets a big buddy uh that kind of guides them through the whole weekend. And um and they get to connect. They get to con it's the peer support that we know is is so essential in uh in our our mental health and our support systems. And so they're able to uh connect with other kids who've been through similar uh losses. And um so the kids' camps, we do scholarships, we do a wellness conference for our families. Uh there's a a winter retreat that is extraordinarily um well attended, uh, and and we've had to put limits on it because we want to try to make sure uh families who've not been before get a chance to go. It's it's almost like um if you fly southwest, as soon as it's you know it's open, people are trying to register. So we're looking at ways to expand that so more families can attend. Um and we and there's a tree lighting ceremony component to that, which is absolutely beautiful. We have uh Christmas trees set up in the chapel at the fire administration where we're headquartered, and uh every firefighter who has a name on the wall on one of the plaques at the memorial gets a uh an ornament with their name on it. And uh there's like seven or eight trees that are decorated with uh an ornament from every fallen firefighter, and it's just a very moving, beautiful moment for the families. And I could tell you stories of um like uh one of the one of the widows talked about ha not having celebrated Christmas or put a Christmas tree up in seven years, but then having attended that that event and now she's I'm ready to do that, I'm ready to you know make sure we celebrate Christmas. Um, you know, I've had uh a mom who uh lost a son in a uh vehicle accident, and uh her two kids went to kids camp, and after uh the kids came back, she said, I I got my son back uh for the one that was you know surviving. So uh and then he's coming back this year to be a big buddy. So, you know, we're the impact is just tremendous. Um you know, re this past weekend we heard stories of uh families that hadn't connected in over six or seven years, but through the ceremony and through the connection to honor their loved one, uh they've reestablished relationships with one another. So it's it's just awesome to to be part of you know, one way to support those families. And then um, you know, we do a lot to try to reduce line of duty deaths and injuries. Uh the we started off in 2004. Uh we held a summit in uh Tampa, Florida, and uh that's where the 16 firefighter life safety initiatives were developed as a consensus for from all the fire service organizations that were there. Uh, we did another one in 2014, we just did uh one in 2024. So, you know, we continue to really focus on you know what does the fire service need, what what should we be working on to prevent line of duty deaths? And then out of those 16 initiatives was initiative 13, which talks about uh uh the psychological and mental health support that both families and firefighters need. Uh so we've done a lot uh on in that front. And in about 2017, uh we stood up the First Responder Center for Excellence. Uh the board was getting concerned that um uh there might be some mission creep in some of the work that we were doing. We'd had law enforcement and EMS aspect for some of the programs that we were developing. So the thought was if we if we're able to create this other nonprofit, uh we can then that organization can serve those other communities as well. And that's where the the birth of the First Responder Center for Excellence uh came in. So yeah, lots of activities, lots of different events. Um yeah, I could talk about it all day.

Bonnie Rumilly 14:57

So no, it's great when you have a passion for something, um, you could talk about it all day, but the things that you shared are absolutely incredible. Um, I didn't realize to the extent of the programming that NEEF offers to families and children. Um, so I'm hoping that listeners here will be also educated in hearing everything that's provided. Um it's not something that's probably talked about enough. You know, what are the resources available? I think it's a topic that's very hard for people just in general in life to face mortality and grief. Um, but the fact that you offer so much for people, and you're right, the peer support is what helps people through. They need others who understand what they're feeling.

SPEAKER_07 15:43

Yeah, and I was just gonna point out, um, you know, one of the the those areas is our uh uniform support groups. You know, we have uh a chief-to-chief network, incident commander to incident commander, company officer to company officer, then co-workers. Uh I've had two incident commanders uh separately tell me uh that they probably wouldn't be walking on this earth had it not been for that peer support and that IC to IC program that allowed them to connect, be with other peers, and uh and really just be able to move on and uh and deal with the grief that the unique grief I think that occurs when uh you're the incident commander at one of these horrible incidents.

Voiceover 16:27

One of the things you're also offering for families and perhaps for these ICs is uh some some degree of closure um in this uh grief-filled experience and and how important that is.

SPEAKER_07 16:38

Yeah, I think one of the things that um you know I've learned uh through my 15 years with the foundation is how much uh we as a society overall do not handle death very well. You know, we're we're quite often uh hidden from it or or you know removed from it. And uh so when it does happen, it's you know it it can be very difficult. And then you add to that um a firefighter line of duty death, which quite often can be very sudden, uh unexpected. But the other thing is we've learned of other things that are taking the lives of firefighters, such as cancer. Um and uh and we also are now uh beginning to recognize suicide in certain under certain conditions. So, you know, those types of grief are even more different than you know the suddenness of it. So um so we're we're working on educating our staff as to you know how to best support those families um when we do have a suicide to honor, and then certainly the cancer component, you know. I think anybody and everyone knows somebody who's died of cancer quite often, it's you know a loved one. And um in some ways you almost lose them twice. You know, when you when you hear the C word being used in a diagnosis, uh and then as they fight through it or go through treatments, and then you know, in and sometimes the the loss. And um, so yeah, we're we're better educated and we're continuing to re educate ourselves as to how to better support those families and those departments.

SPEAKER_03 18:12

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Voiceover 19:32

But I wanted to just spotlight that you at FRCE just had a uh uh a summit in Nashville where suicide was really the focus. And um you had a stellar lineup of speakers who were approaching it from some new and innovative ways that we really haven't heard before, um, trying to like almost engineer solutions for uh preventing suicide that are not um you know well known. So can you speak a little bit about that um that conference? And what it represents and how you are trying to change the conversation about suicide.

SPEAKER_07 20:06

Yeah, so it was the uh the fire service mental health and suicide prevention symposium uh held in Nashville uh just about a month ago. And uh it, you know, he started off with uh just a phenomenal uh individual who has um dedicated his life to preventing and learning more about suicide. That's Dr. Thomas Joyner. He's written several books on it. Uh really remarkable story in the sense that uh his life had a particular trajectory, and his his dad was uh he died by suicide. And so completely changed you know his direction and how much he's dedicated to it. And and we learned a lot about uh through his presentation, um, you know, all so many different factors related to suicide and how difficult it is to predict. Um so you know, I think that you know, I think it gave provided some comfort uh because all of those all of us who've who've had a friend or a colleague or co-worker that that um died by suicide, you know, we we can often blame ourselves about you know how I should have seen something, you know, and and maybe looking back, you might see things that you didn't notice, you know, when the person was alive. But I think it was comforting to know that it's it is extraordinary difficult to to um to predict, even for the people who are tremendous experts at it. So um, you know, that was very valuable. And then as we went through, you know, just seeing what uh different departments are doing, uh different individuals are doing, whether it's uh beefing up their peer support programs, uh making sure they have clinicians, uh connecting with colleges and universities, uh or medical facilities to partner with to support uh their their heroes uh every single day. And um and how they're doing you know, check-ins and and all kinds of different aspects of uh just making sure that um you know, as we as what this program is all about, right? Knowing that you're not alone. Yeah. Um so it was extraordinarily, you know, an extraordinary two, well, one and a half days of of uh drinking out of a fire hose. I don't know. But um, we learned a lot. And uh I think everybody came away with a sense of you know the how much more needs to be done. And uh not only, you know, David, to your point, uh on the research piece, because you know, we just we have to do just a better job of doing the research so we really could better understand the problem and how to support um our our first responders across the spectrum.

Bonnie Rumilly 22:48

Well, we couldn't agree more, and a lot of the work that we do on the podcast is trying to facilitate people talking about suicide, talking about these topics that provide a lot of anxiety and fear, right? So if if somebody's has a lot of anxiety or fear about suicide, it's the last thing that they want to talk about. But in not talking about it, we're not changing the numbers. And one of the big things that we do on the podcast, but also in the Fairfield County response team that Stacey and I are part of, um, we really try to educate our responders themselves to understand the stats and to understand that more are dying by their own hand than the hazards of the job. And when we say that, we don't take it lightly because one is too many. So the fact that you're facilitating people having that discussion, talking about it, I think the more we can desensitize the fear of the topic, we can get people to listen and look around and see what they can do in their own lives because that ripple effect is immeasurable.

SPEAKER_07 23:53

Yeah, and I think you know, to your credit and the credit, you know, for the work that you're doing, you know, 15 years ago uh we would have hosted a similar event and I don't think we would have filled the room. Yeah. But it uh just about a month ago, we we had to turn people down. There were over 300 people in that room to to learn about you know how to better support and how to learn about uh mental health and suicide prevention. So I we have turned the corner on awareness, um, but there's so much more that needs to be done um you know, as far as uh practical practical information. You know, and I think one of the one of the things that highlighted is you know for departments and agencies to you know create that culture of being able to speak out, being able to, you know, not being stigmatized, um, you know, if if I'm having a concern or when I have a concern. And um there's uh Jen Meyer, uh, she's one of the speakers there, uh did a fantastic job. She only had 15 minutes to kind of talk about the national strategy related to uh suicide prevention. But one of the things she didn't have time to do is she talked about, you know, how we all say, you know, you're you don't have you don't go it alone, say something, you know, but how many of us are willing to do that? You know, that take that in word and say, you know, when when I have concerns, am I willing to talk to somebody about it? And um, so it I I was really uh, you know, I think that's a message that needs to be um really addressed because as fire service people and first responders, I think in particular, you know, we're we're always the helper. You know, I'm here, I will listen to you and I will hear your concern. So please share it with me. But how am I am I willing to to do the sharing? Yeah.

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Voiceover 26:57

I want to get into a little more depth with First Responder Center for Excellence. Um you talked a little bit about how they've evolved out of NEEF. Talk a little bit about um some of the other programs, resources, initiatives that um FRC is offering because there's there's a ton. If you go to the website, it's almost like it's like that fire hose again. There is so much good stuff on that website. So um tell us about FRC and what all the things that you're excited about.

SPEAKER_07 27:23

Well, first, uh just to add that you know, uh to have Frank Leib, uh the chief of safety for FDNY at retiring after 30-something years, 34 years, I think it is, with the FDNY, to have him step in and lead the F the FRCE is just phenomenal. And he's just done a tremendous job. He's everywhere, you know, he's a published author. And uh for him to lead that that organization, uh, again, it's just you know, we're we're just very blessed with tremendous leadership. And you know, his focus is uh, and he talks about uh the FRCE's job is to put the NEEF out of business, uh to have you know as as few, or you know, if we could ever reach a point where there'll be zero, and of course we know that won't happen, but that's that's his goal. And uh so he's approaching that with um you know really wide brush of trying to get as much education to the fire service as absolutely possible. Uh he's got a coalition of uh of organizations that are sharing a uh a platform for training, and uh a lot of content is going on that training, whether it's cancer prevention, mental health, cardiac support. Uh and and one of, you know, and I love his part of everybody every firefighter needs to get this for free. Uh we need to be able to provide it to every fire everybody. Um, and you know, you think about it from his approach too is you know, most departments are you know, they're struggling to buy fire hose and fire trucks and and the and the equipment that firefighters need. So are they really going to be able to support training? Uh, and some do, which is fantastic if they have those resources, but the uh the opportunity to provide these uh at no cost so that every firefighter uh gets that training. And if you think about you know the 140 that we honored, you know, the the trauma deaths are way down, uh, which is a real testament to the fire service training uh that goes into you know putting up ladders, hose line, running those lines, uh tactics, those things, you know, we're we're getting really, really good at those things, uh, which is again, it's just uh show that with professionalism, whether it's a career volunteer combination, you know, whatever it is kind of system you're from, you know, those those firefighters they're they're true professionals, uh, which is what the public expects. But uh as as Frank points out, you know, these are things, these are the blind side uh areas that that are taking the lives of firefighters. And uh so he's doing a lot of tremendous work on the content, um cardiac cancer prevention. And you know, coming from New York, um he's gone to way too many funerals for firefighters that have died of cancer. Uh, we had um, there's a woman by the name of Vina Drennan. Her husband, uh Captain Drennan, uh, was killed in the early 90s, and um she uh she found out that the gear that FDNY was was wearing at the time was not NFBA compliant. She became quite the advocate and of uh and they they purchased new gear. And uh one of the things I heard in New York much a year ago was, you know, our one of our brothers died, so you could wear this gear. And so, you know, wear it, wear it the proper way and wear it with a certain level of honor because of you know what it's taken. I think that's the approach that Frank is taking is um you know honor our fallen heroes by lessons that we learned and and uh trying to do everything we can. So, you know, wear your FCBA, you know, practice uh good nutrition, uh stay healthy, you know, have a strong heart and um and and everything we can learn about mental health and uh and be learning how to be more resilient. And that's that's the training that's at the FRCE and on our website and that we're offering uh whatever we can in person.

Bonnie Rumilly 31:29

That all sounds great. Um, can you go into a little bit more some of the partner programs that are going on with FRCE? So you've talked about some of the initiatives, but what are some of the other partnerships?

SPEAKER_07 31:42

Yeah, so we're we're connected with the uh the uh firefighter cancer support network. Uh they're using um uh the platform. Um and and then just and that's the other piece that uh Frank's really focusing on. We've got some training that's coming out of the University of Pittsburgh. There's some work being done there, uh sleep studies that are being done through the University of Pittsburgh, and they're creating some uh some uh content for our online training programs, and uh and University of Iowa is another one that um uh and there was a uh we had a uh a board member from the FRCE by the name of John McClough. Uh he he recently passed away uh cancer death. He was not a firefighter, but um well, actually, no, he was a firefighter. He was a volunteer firefighter in Pennsylvania, which he became a volunteer much later in life, and he absolutely loved it. He just, you know, as it gets into our blood, we just didn't, you know, that's what we do. So he was so proud of being a member of the FRCE, and he made these connections with us or for us uh at the University of Iowa and the University of Pittsburgh. And uh so that legacy lives on uh as we're continuing to prepare. In fact, uh I think one of the one of the things we're looking at is maybe doing the next uh first firefighter uh suicide prevention symposium in Iowa in conjunction with the University of Iowa. So um, yeah, partnerships obviously, you know, we can't do it alone. And there's so much other good work. So I, you know, one of our goals is to amplify the great work that others are doing and uh and then partner with them as much as we can uh where things align. And and Frank's just doing a fantastic job with that.

Bonnie Rumilly 33:31

Well, we know that we're stronger together, right? When we're all driving the same mission, we can do more work when we join forces. And it sounds like Frank and all of you are very, very progressive. I mean, from every conversation we've had, from all the materials that we've seen, we've heard them speak, you're all really progressive people. And that's what we need. We need to be looking to the future and what are the innovative ways to make things different.

SPEAKER_07 33:59

Yeah, innovation is uh is key. So uh, you know, we can't continue to do the things, even you know, for our memorial, we're looking at um you know the things that we have done traditionally. Uh, you know, are we connecting with uh new moms, new widows, uh, younger children? And um, you know, even the music that we play at the memorial, we're you know, seriously considering, okay, what you know, some of the things that, you know, just because I like them isn't going to be the things that you know they need to hear. So uh, you know, we're we're trying to innovate in every aspect of what we do. And um, and I think you know, getting input from people like you, who are, you know, you've got your finger on the pulse of a lot of things. Uh, you're staying on top of uh the you know what the most recent and latest research is showing. So, you know, we need to get that input and then make sure, you know, and I would say hold us, hold us to it, hold us accountable to the fact that, you know, hey, you might be missing something. If we are missing something, you know, let us know so we can uh make sure we're continuing to innovate as we need to.

Voiceover 35:06

Yeah, and that's that's what we're all about is the collaborative process um where we we do meet people who are doing um innovative and progressive things, whether they're writing books, making films, doing events, and uh we we can all support each other in that mission. So um, yeah, that's definitely part of our uh what we're all about. And another thing that we do, our our audience has now come to include mental health clinicians who work with first responders. And to that audience, Victor, um, what key insights would you like clinicians to know about the work you're doing? Like how can they be better prepared to support firefighters and their families?

SPEAKER_07 35:45

Yeah, well, there's uh we uh I think it's still up. Medical University of South Carolina uh had a program uh you could go uh and look up um uh through their website, uh something that will help prepare clinicians to work with fire service uh and first responders. Uh, you know, I think one of the most tragic stories related to mental health uh was you know, right after 9-11, the FDNY counseling service unit brought in clinicians uh from outside, and uh and they thought it was a really good idea, but uh Frank Leto, who you I'm sure you've had on the program, you know, has said um there's only one that's that that kept they kept on uh because they were they were so traumatized by the things that the firefighters were sharing with them. And that that's not unique to 9-11. I think that's unique, you know, that's that's across the board, um, you know, as firefighters express what you know what they contend with um on a regular basis. So so I think you know, just be prepared for that and the dark humor. Uh you know, I'm sure there's a lot of training related to that. Um, but yeah, I think seek out, you know, that um we have a seek out anything we have on our website and the FRCE website, but also look at um, you know, we have a panel, we have an advisory committee uh focused on mental health. And uh, you know, they're they would be a tremendous resource for clinicians to reach out to them and and you know talk about how to best be prepared to serve our community. Thanks. That's great.

Bonnie Rumilly 37:21

No, it sounds wonderful. And you know, we've started to do a lot more episodes so that we can also help to educate some of those clinicians. So again, we hit it from all angles together and we're gonna push that ball up the hill. Um, the other question I had for you, you've mentioned a couple of your resources, but talk about some of the online and in-person opportunities that families and survivors could avail themselves of.

SPEAKER_07 37:48

So uh we do have um every Tuesday and Wednesday, there are uh specific groups for our Fire Hero families. Uh and we do online uh meetings with them. Uh we just in the last six months started something for young adults and high school kids to be able to connect. Uh and and that's all uh facilitated with a licensed clinician. Uh so they have uh you know uh opportunity to connect online. Uh same with uh you know, a lot of there's uh a group for moms, a group for widows, and um and one of the things we found, we we actually pivoted to that during COVID, and then post-COVID, our family programs was like, we have to keep this. You know, it's just been so valuable for the families to connect virtually, and and quite often we're reaching families before we honor their firefighter, and and now they're they're attending our in-person events, uh, whether it's a wellness conference uh or or the kids' camps, and they've already got friends because they've met them virtually. So uh so those are you know really great, uh valuable programs uh for our families. And then, yeah, there's all as I mentioned, the platform on the FRCE. We also have the Fire Hero Learning Network, which has a whole host of training uh for the fire service, you know, decision making, um, you know, and even some uh very tactical related issues like uh you know dealing with carbon monoxide detection and sprinkler systems and and sprinkler buildings and uh lots of different training that's available through that. Uh and then you can always you know seek out uh our in-person course, you know, that is very uh dependent on funding. Uh you know, we have uh we've done these one-day seminars on cancer prevention. And actually, for a while we were doing uh it was cancer, cardiac, and mental health uh all in one day. So that's one of the things the FRCE was was pulling off uh pretty regularly. Uh it could be a little labor intensive, but it's nice because the departments can, you know, it's a one day training and we're hitting everything um in that one. Day. And the other thing I think is really valuable is that we're not siloed in this cancer cardiac mental health because there's so many, so much of it is intertangled, is tangled together, right? So we use each other. A lot of the the cancer prevention is also supporting uh wellness and sleep and mental health and cardiac you know wellness. So um I think there's that's another uh really unique piece of what the FRC is really pushing is uh you can't silo these things. They're every you know, the the whole human body is connected and all of the rest of it's connected as well.

Voiceover 40:37

Right. And and Victor, you mentioned uh funding. So if someone individual organization wants to help support NEEF and FRCE, um how can they do that?

SPEAKER_07 40:49

Yeah, go to uh www.firehero.org and hit the donate button. Uh, you know, everything we do, it is uh it's it's it's funding dependent. And um so you know, the and we're at a tough time. I I realize you know, a lot of a lot of us are going through difficult times. The economy's pretty topsy-turvy. Uh, but you know, if every firefighter gave us uh what it costs to buy an alcoholic beverage, an adult beverage at a bar uh on behalf of one firefighter, then you know we would we would be able to do a lot more of the work that we're doing. So uh I would just you know encourage everyone, you know, uh buy a firefighter drink and donate uh donate to the NFL F. And and you can designate funds to go directly to the FRCE if you want to focus on that prevention piece, you know, put that in there and we'll make sure um those funds are used for the prevention component. Um or you could just put it wherever, you know, wherever you think it fits best. Um but yeah, we're uh we're dependent on that and we're grateful for the opportunity to um to advertise you know how people can support us through uh through our funding. And I'll add too um, you know, coming up in September, there's gonna be stair climbs all across the country. Uh we can get you that information. You know, that's another great way to support an organization. Uh we continue to support the counseling service unit of FDNY through those stair climbs. And um, so that's or golf tournaments, or you know, or if you want to do one, if you want to host one, uh let us know. We we'll we'll support you to they give you all the instructions so you can do a stair climb in your community.

Voiceover 42:31

Right. And then you have a great event uh connected with FDIC in the well, they'll be coming up next year in the spring, but um talk about that one because that that one seemed like uh a dynamic event that people really would enjoy on a lot of different levels.

SPEAKER_07 42:45

Yeah, so we uh we did boot scooting boogie this year. Uh it's a the Indiana ballroom, uh just about a block and a half away from the convention center. Uh it's a beautiful ballroom. We had the band food. Um we had a bourbon tasting event and an auction. And uh it's just a great way to come out and support the foundation and um and then you know, buy some some, you know, we had uh some bourbon that we sold with the names of some fallen heroes on it. Uh we have all kinds of different fire equipment that if you want to get some equipment, uh motor roller radios, all those that kind of thing. And uh and then on Friday morning, uh well, it's actually Friday afternoon at one o'clock, uh it after the Boot Scootin' Boogie event, which is on Thursday, uh come do the stair climb at Lucasloyle Stadium. Uh we had about 600 climbers. Uh you get uh you get a t-shirt and the badge of a fallen firefighter from FDNY, and uh and you you finish the climb that they could not finish. It's 2,200 steps. Uh it shows the the need to be fit as a firefighter. It honors our fallen heroes and the funds support uh the families of our fallen firefighters as well as the FTNY counseling services unit. So it it encompasses the entire mission when you do a staircle, uh honoring our fallen, supporting the families, preventing line of duty deaths and injuries.

Voiceover 44:14

And such a such a cool venue, uh Lucas Oil Stadium where the Colts play. So um it's it's a winning combination. Yes, yeah.

Bonnie Rumilly 44:22

Well, Victory, you you do so much um to help others, and we can tell how dedicated you are to this mission. And it it's just been incredible to listen to you today. And I really hope our listeners and viewers see what goes on behind the scenes here because it's quite incredible.

Voiceover 44:41

Thank you, Bonnie. I appreciate the opportunity. Victor, we've been looking forward to having this conversation with you and um you know from just firsthand experience with some of these events you've been describing and the organizations that you're leading. Um, just want to give you kudos for uh just moving the fire service forward in uh health, wellness in and so many different fronts. So thank you for all you're doing.

SPEAKER_07 45:04

Thank you for the opportunity and thanks for your support. I know you you know that's it's important for us. You know, we can't do it without you know people like you. So uh uh thanks for coming. You know, there's there's there's different types of you know, people who admire the work, and then there's co-laborers, and you are co-laborers with us, so thank you.

Voiceover 45:23

It's our absolute honor and pleasure. So remember, like and subscribe, YouTube respond resilience, Facebook, responder TV, LinkedIn, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and go to our website, respondertv.com for past episodes and guest information. Till the next time, stay safe, be kind to yourself. Take care.