Oklahoma EMTs Use Coaches to Handle Stress

Jun. 21--Muskogee County Emergency Medical Services use coaches to help their employees handle the stress of an average 1,800 calls per month.

Muskogee County EMS is in its second year of its COACHES program -- meant to aid employees stressed by critical incidents.

It's taught Emergency Medical Technicians "It's OK to Cry."

A seasoned group of EMTs volunteered to mentor those who could use their help, said Special Projects Coordinator and COACHES Team Leader Mike McWilliams.

He was given permission to design the program, which is in its second year of operation. He researched how the Special Forces debriefed men after a traumatic, critical incident. He talked with councilors who were helped out after the Oklahoma City bombing.

A yellow and black sign reminds employees a "MANDATORY" COACHES call is to be made if any call comes in involving rape, homicide, suicide, death by trauma, the death or serious injury or abuse of a child. Calls also are to made in the death or serious injury of MCEMS personnel or of their immediate or close family member or of any individual well known to MCEMS personnel.

As for everything else: "If in doubt, page it out," the sign says.

There are no exceptions, day or night, it reads.

Coaches get in immediate contact with their assigned EMT after a critical incident.

"It's such a good program," said MCEMS spokeswoman Rebecca Smith.

Most EMTs don't realize what the job is "until you see it, touch it, smell it," McWilliams said. "Some people go all the way through the schooling and then say 'this is just not for me'."

It's not a job where you can "fake it," Smith said. "You have to have the heart for it. It's a calling -- it's not a job."

When you clock out -- you've got to leave it there, McWilliams said.

"You know you've given 100 percent," he said. "There are some very intense moments in the day -- and then you've got to be normal."

Smith said when she worked as an EMT she knew when she got home that she had made a difference. Maybe nobody else could tell it -- "but I knew."

Coping skills are important -- learning things you can do for stress relief, he said.

Keeping a journal, doing things with your family helps, Smith said.

And EMTs know if they vent to their coaches that it is 100 percent confidential, she said.

Sometimes when an EMT experiences a dead child or a car wreck with bad injuries or death, it becomes evident they need something beyond what their coach can provide, Smith said.

"This program is probably one of the best things we've done for ourselves -- ever," Smith said.

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