Report: First responders face mental health stigma

ALBANY, N.Y. (WTEN) — The Hochul administration released a report that detailed the mental health struggles first responders face. The report surveyed first responders who reported feeling depression, anxiety, and high stress.

This week on Empire State Weekly, Luci Labriola-Cuffe, the Deputy State Fire Administrator for the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, and Amanda Schultz, the Assistant Director of the Office of Interoperable and Emergency Communications, spoke on the results of the report.

They both explained that the level of participation in the survey was impressive. Also, while the results didn't surprise them, it was valuable to share with the public what first responders go through.

"There is such a stigma in our job. We are people that like to help others but we very vastly sometimes don't take care of ourselves and so, to sit down for 15 to 20 minutes to think about ourselves and how this is affecting us was very big," said Labriola-Cuffe.

"I think it really brings to light how much the different disciplines are struggling throughout their careers, in the burnout, in the anxiety, in the stress of experiencing the symptoms of PTSD and not knowing what to do with those types of symptoms or even recognizing that they're happening," said Schultz.

Also this week, Bryon Backenson, the Director of the Bureau of Communicable Disease Control for the Department of Health, explained the state's response to Bird Flu cases in the state. He explained that the state has worked to educate animal owners while minimizing the spread of the disease among humans.

"One of the things we do is that when something happens on a farm, we try and figure out who had the closest contact to those particular birds. We try to keep an eye on those people. We work with them, we text them, we email them back and forth. We make sure they don't have any signs and symptoms. If they do, we try and wind up getting them tested it in some ways harkens back to the contact tracing that many of us are familiar with" said Backenson.

To see these interviews and more, here is a list of how you can watch Empire State Weekly in your area of New York: