At bars, restaurants and homes across America, many adults enjoy alcoholic beverages responsibly. However, there are those for whom drinking becomes a deadly addiction that sours personal and professional relationships and endangers lives. It’s no small number, either – according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, nearly 18 million adults have an alcohol use disorder. Firefighters are disproportionately affected. Among the 112 career firefighters surveyed in the study “Sleep Problems, Depression, Substance Use, Social Bonding, and Quality of Life in Professional Firefighters,” 80% used alcohol (averaging about one to two drinks per day), 56% binge drank (four or more ...
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Do you remember your first job? I am willing to say you probably encountered situations and people that made you say, “If I ever am the boss one day, I will be sure NOT to do that!”. We all have experienced positive and negative work environments. One of the most common complaints is that once a person gets promoted, they forget what it is like to be on the lower rung. In any business, stress can become the everyday norm when the overall tone of an organization is dysfunctional. Of course, this leads to additional stress and discontent across all ...
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9-1-1: The Dispatcher Is in Distress Every 9-1-1 call begins exactly the same. The dispatcher answers the call and calmly asks what the emergency is. The response from the caller is usually a frantic, distraught voice of someone who needs help right away. For the length of the call, the emergency dispatcher is the voice of calm that assists the caller in managing the crisis until help arrives. Behind the soothing voice, adrenalin is pumping full force, as the dispatcher struggles to find the balance between hope and fear. A 2014 report by the Office of the Auditor in the ...
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