Service dog helping EMS workers

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — First responders are there on some of our worst days. However, repeatedly helping people in traumatic situations can cause them to, in-turn, suffer from PTSD.

CDC data shows EMS workers are more likely to die by suicide than the general public. Hardin County EMS critical care paramedic Tim Gillum and his service dog, Albus, are hoping to help change that.

Gillum's doctor prescribed Albus as a service dog to treat PTSD and secondary bipolar disorder after the paramedic responded to a traumatic car accident in his hometown, treating one of his high school best friends, who ultimately didn't survive.

"PTSD, it caused me the nightmares, it caused me the flashbacks, the anxiety, and from that, stemmed the mood swings and the bipolar characteristics," Gillum explained.

At first, he was worried about the stigma that might come along with bringing his service dog to work. However, once he did, he says his coworkers were very supportive.

"Initially, it was just, ‘There's this cute dog at the station,’ and so everyone wanted to love on him, and it wasn't really until we started having some bad runs, and people were coming back to Albus from those bad runs," Gillum says of when he and his supervisors noticed a shift at their station.

Gillum says after his team responded to one particularly hard call a couple of months ago, Albus got a test run helping EMTs and paramedics decompress during a big debriefing.

"He walked around," Gillum recalled. "He would read people's body language. He would read how they were acting, and then he would force himself on them the way he does, and we noticed a monstrous difference. The room went from barely talking, being silent, to suddenly everyone was talking. It forces you through whatever you’re going through, and at a minimum, you start opening up and talking about it, and so people quickly saw that."

That instance inspired leaders at Hardin County EMS to start a critical incident stress management team, with Tim as the incident stress manager and Albus as the official therapy dog.

"So, in that, we give out resources," Gillum explained. "We aid in starting the healing process."

When local nonprofit Friends of Hardin County Animal Shelter found out about what was happening at the EMS station, its organizers took to Facebook on Christmas Eve, asking supporters to help raise enough money to buy Albus the professional gear he needs to help him transition from service dog mode to therapy dog mode. In just an hour, they collected well over the fundraising goal, giving Gillum $430 to buy a special vest and collar for Albus.

Gillum says the new program helping after critical incidents won't only help EMS workers.

"Once we get it up and running, we’re going to reach out to the fire departments. We’ll reach out to the police agencies, to the hospital, and we’ll be a resource for all of Hardin County emergency services, not just EMS."