First Responders ten times more likely to commit suicide,,,still?

“We have to help them continue on:” Local program helps first responders cope with PTSD
CBS 58 News
By: Whitney Martin
Posted: Feb 16, 2018

The internal pain, so deep emergency responders are ten times more likely to commit suicide, according to the journal of Emergency Medical Services. Twenty percent of firefighters are paramedics also have PTSD.

WISCONSIN (CBS 58) – A Wisconsin agency says emergency responders are committing suicide every 40 hours. Now, there’s a push in Madison to help save the people who live to save us.

A new law would expand the state’s workers’ compensation law allowing responders to take time away for PTSD, even if they weren’t physically injured during the traumatic experience.

CBS 58 Morning Anchor Whitney Martin explains the struggle that so many face.

Medals and awards line John Krahn’s walls. From the outside, he’s a hero. Inside, he’s fighting a battle only a few understand.

“I don’t dream normal dreams anymore. I haven’t since the accident,” said Krahn.

Those nightmares take the former Elm Grove Police Officer to the scene of a 2009 train accident where he was thrown into the air after attempting to save a mother and her son from a van stuck on the tracks.

While both made it out alive, Krahn still lives with the physical and emotional pain from that day, the day he almost died.

“I feel guilty that my wife has to deal with this,” Krahn says.

Krahn is referring to his post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD that can affect first responders causing flashbacks, anxiety, and insomnia, making some days feel like survival mode.
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