Southern Nevada first responders get a boost for mental health services
The touch of cold water unnerves Clark County Deputy Fire Chief Rian Glassford.
“I hate it when my hands touch cold water,” Glassford said Friday, explaining that it brings him back to a tragic day nearly two decades ago when he pulled a boy out of a pool, a toddler who later died.
“I can still take you to that house. I can tell you exactly where it was, and I can tell you every single thing that happened,” Glassford said.
He was speaking from Metropolitan Police Department headquarters where Sens. Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto announced nearly $1 million in federal dollars for mental health services dedicated to Southern Nevada first responders.
The $934,000 grant requested by the Fire Department and Metro will help more than 6,700 local first responders, officials said.
“The funding will be used to enhance stress management and mental health training and peer support programs within the agencies,” according to Clark County. “The departments also will team up to host specialized workshops on a variety of topics for police and firefighters to ensure their health and safety both on the job and in their personal lives.”
Rosen opened her remarks by praising those in the profession.
“Your work is crucial to the health and well-being of Southern Nevada, and we recognize the risks you take every day as you put on your uniforms and you leave your home,” she said. “You put your life on the line every day for our community, and for that we are forever grateful.”
The dollars originate from the Community Project Funding the senators secured in the bipartisan funding package for fiscal year 2024.
“It is important that we do take care of the men and women in our fire department and Metropolitan Police Department when and after they’re responding to some of the most serious incidents we have in our communities,” Cortez Masto said.
While an average civilian might experience a couple of traumatic or “horrific” events in their lifetime, first responders encounter them daily, said Glassford, who has been in the profession for 26 years.
“We see hundreds of these events in our career,” he said. “Not two, not three — hundreds of some of the worst calls that you can imagine.”
Glassford also recalled a response from about a decade ago when he consoled a grieving mother in his arms after her daughter died unexpectedly. He said he calls the parents every year to let them know that “that little girl mattered.”
Younger first responders appear more open to discussing their traumatic experiences. Meanwhile, mental health professionals are attempting to make headwinds with the older generations, who might have developed unhealthy coping mechanisms, Glassford said.
“We owe it to them to give them healthy ways to let go of this so that they don’t carry this baggage on for the rest of their lives,” he said about the 675 members of his department who respond to an average of 175,000 calls a year.
James Kilber, the Metro chief administrative officer who oversees the Wellness Bureau, which provides mental health resources for the department, said there are more police officers who take their own lives with their department-issued weapons nationally than there are those who are killed by suspects.
The bureau has seven clinicians who treat retired and current personnel and their families confidentially.
“Our goal, our objective, our mission is that there is no more suicide for police officers, no more suicides for any first responders or firefighters,” he said.
Sheriff Kevin McMahill has repeatedly said that mental health resources are a priority for his department.
“I believe if we take care of our first responders better than we ever have, they will in turn take care of our community better than they ever have,” he said in a statement. “The money that Clark County Fire Department Deputy Chief Glassford, Senator Cortez Masto, and Senator Rosen secured, will help fund programs that will make this a reality.”
Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.
