Critical Incident Stress Program
Debriefing, Defusing and Proactive Services
Emergency medical services personnel - including law enforcement personnel,
firefighters, ambulance attendants and others - are subjected to stress-inducing
events as part of their normal day-to-day activity is. At times, an extraordinary
event occurs that produces unusually high levels of stress as a result of a
specific incident. In the past, many EMS personnel dealt with stress by leaving
the EMS field. The North Dakota Department of Health established a critical incident
stress
system in order to provide assistance in developing healthy stress-coping
mechanisms and to assist in the retention of EMS personnel.
North Dakota's critical incident stress system can be activated by telephone
at 701.328.9921 seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Requests for assistance
must be made by an official of a North Dakota ambulance service, law
enforcement agency, fire department or hospital. A critical incident stress
debriefing team will be sent to assist at a mutually agreed upon time and
place. Proactive training sessions are also available to the North Dakota EMS community
that teach healthy stress-coping practices and give an overview of the
critical incident stress debriefing process. There is no charge for these
services.
