Lakewood Colorado’s West Metro Fire allowed FOX31‘s Nicole Fierro an inside peek at the new way the department is proactively managing the anxieties of their firefighters — therapy dogs.
One of their therapy dogs, Remmey, is serving the community by being a hero for their heroes; safeguarding firefighter mental health with comfort and decompression.
Station captain Reed Norwood explained that West Metro Fire is taking firefighters’ mental health seriously, and that Remmey plays an important role in providing them with comfort and therapy.
Making Firefighter Mental Health A Priority
This crew of West Metro firefighters is on the road to Northern California, where they will be helping out on one of at least 25 fires currently burning in that state. So far this year in CA- almost 2.4 million acres burned & 3,200 structures lost. #2021fireseason pic.twitter.com/BBx45I8rXK
— WestMetroFire (@WestMetroFire) September 24, 2021
Last year, West Metro Fire received over 35,000 calls, and 70 percent of those were medical, reported Fierro.
“Over time, those calls kind of add up, and the stresses can compound on our firefighters,” station captain Norwood said.
“When there’s a child that we run on that’s maybe the same age or the same clothes as our kids, it ties back to our own families, those can be especially hard to process.”
Norwood’s commitment to the mental health of his firefighters is commendable, since dealing with such things was once completely unheard of in such a profession.
“Years ago, we’d just put a lid on it and not deal with stuff,” Norwood said. “We wouldn’t deal with the stresses, we wouldn’t deal with the anxiety. Now, we’re starting to throw all sort of tools out there for our firefighters to utilize.”
Who Is Remmey, & How Does She Help?
Remmey is actually Norwood’s own family companion; a three-and-a-half-year-old Irish Setter. She’s one of two therapy dogs who were recently inducted into the West Metro Fire Department family, with more in training.
They work alongside the firefighters throughout the day and await their return from fighting fires, ready to provide what canine companions provide like no other.
Whenever Norwood clocks in for a two-day shift, so does Remmey.
“I get up at about 4:30 in the morning to get to work, and she just knows that’s a workday, so she gets excited and jumps in the truck and goes to work,” Norwood said, and went on to convey how big of a difference he believes she’s making for his firefighters.
“She just kind of knows who might need her, and she’ll just sit with them, and they’ll pet on her and love her,” he said. “There’s such a history of dogs in the firehouse, but over the last 50 [to] 60 years, that’s just gone away. So to have that back is extremely beneficial.”
If your dog can provide therapy like Remmey, then you might want to try registering them as a therapy dog. DogTime has a full guide on how to register your pet as a certified therapy animal here!
Do you think therapy dogs can help firefighters deal with the stress of the job? Should more firehouses should follow in West Metro’s footsteps? Let us know in the comments below!
