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Rescue organizations and churches partners for people in need Introduction on the annual Conference of the National Association of Fire Brigade Chaplains Moreton in Marsh, September 1994
Updated: February 1997 Contents: Chaplain for the emergency-workers
Ladies and Gentlemen, Housefire.
For the fire fighters it is just one call among many. For the houseowners it is
a once-in-a-lifetime desaster. Helplessly they have to watch how all their
posessions burn, how their home is destroyed by the fire. Unnoticed, they stand
beside the action. They do not know how life will go on. Even if none of the
family members were injured or killed, they will not forget this incident for a
long time. Car Accident - One Person Killed.
For the newspaper readers a daily headline. But the rescue workers, paramedics
and fire fighters can often not forget the sight of the mutilated body. There is
always the question: Could we have done something differently? or: Why did they
have to drive so recklessly! Some will be haunted for months by the horrible
sights.
These are only two examples of the extreme emotional pressure which occurs in
the field of fire rescue and medical emergency care for the victims as well as
the helpers. The German Police Forces recognized a long time ago, that it is
important to have chaplains specifically in charge of the needs of policemen.
For fire and medical emergency departments we have no such pastoral care
although the pressures are the same. For some years now, the ecumenical AGS (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Seelsorge in Feuerwehr und Rettungsdienst - Association for Pastoral Care in Emergency Organizations) has worked on changing this. The AGS is a forum for pastors and other persons who are specifically interested in the needs of rescue crews. Here they have the opportunity to exchange information, draft and try out schedules, and to organize. They talk about how to improve the assistance for the workers and the victims. The Emergency Pastoral Care (EPC) is equal to clinical pastoral care and pastoral care in the police-forces. The AGS works very well with a variety of emergency rescue carriers and other church departments. It also maintains contact with independent crisis intervention teams.
In Germany for many it is an unusual thought that the church and rescue
organizations can work together. But after further investigation, many are
surprised to find out that especially this area is one of the original tasks of
christianity which had been forgotten during the fast development of rescue
services. The rescue organizations as well as the churches want to help people.
Thus it is good if they work together closely. 1 ) Preparation The rescue organizations and the respective pastors get to know each other and build up a relationship of trust. The pastors participate at meetings and training procedures. They are also in charge of certain intructional evenings such as: how to deal with injured people, dealing with death, stress managenent, how to deal with memories, etc.
Special church offers: services, pastoral talks, support and counselling with
respect to church questions (marriage, baptism, funeral etc.)
2) Operation The pastors are called in for special emergency operations to support the helpers at work. For example during calls with many injured or dead. The pastors can consult the workers, the injured or uninjured bystanders and relatives. They can mediate between workers and victims. Also, they can create connections to clinical pastoral care, the home parish of the individual concerned or other organisations.
Special church offers: pastoral talks, liturgical services at the place of the
accident (eucharist, anointing of the sick, blessing, prayers) 3) Debriefing After emotionally stressful calls it is often essential for those concerned to talk about the call and their feelings during and after the call. This can be performed in group counselling sessions or in individual talks. The pastor has to take care that these talks are conducted in an atmosphere of sympathy and confidentiality.
Special church offers: counselling, confession, thanksgiving or memorial
services, funerals. Work to be done Consoling grieving and desperate people, however, is one of the churches original tasks and it is about time that the churches remember this task and try to strengthen contacts to to their local rescue organizations. In order to facilitate this cooperation, a variety of activities have to get started: - raising interest for the different working methods of church and emergency organisations - installation of technical communication, so that the churches may be dispatched around the clock. - reliable data from which the control station can determine which pastor is in charge of a certain district. - training of pastors and inclusion of emergency pastoral care into their job descriptions
- Organization of cross training sessions, so that the rescue workers and the
pastors will get to know each other and learn to work together. Chaplain for the emergency workers Somehow different is the situation, if we want to be partners and conselors for the emergency workers. Many studies of the last years have shown, that there is a urgent need for spirituel an psychological support. Too often we see severe symptoms of burn out, divorce, psycho-somatic illness, job-changing or too early retirement. But as the emergency workers now for many years have lived with this problems, they very often reject any kind of help in the spirituel or psychological aereas.
Besides the classical pastoral care in one-to one talks we therefore built up a
CISM (Critical Incident Stress Management)-Network to provide informations about
stress, to prepare the personel for possible debriefings after critical
incidents and to offer effective support after such a call. We work together
very closely with the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation and we
learned a lot from their over 20 years of experience in working with
emergency-personell. The first German-speaking CISM-Team started its work in
november 1994. (It is called SBE-Team - Stressbearbeitung nach belastenden
Ereignissen)
So far the cooperation has been very encouraging. Just now, many boardmembers of
rescue-organizations are starting to realize that the emotional stress rescue
workers are exposed to, can be tackled from the outside, by the church.
In different locations of Germany different models for the cooperation of church
and rescue organizations have been developed. The Protestant Lutheran Church of
Bavaria was the first one to establish a full-time position for a pastor who
would mainly be responsible for the coordination and build-up of this work.
CRITERIAS FOR CALLING EMERGENCY CHAPLAINS
Generals: - missions involving many people - longer lasting missions - especially with breathing apparatus - missions involving casualties or death in the line of duty
- missions with special psycholigical demands for the victims or the rescue
workers In Particular: - multiple alarm fires - traffic accidents with several casualties or killed persons - unsuccessful resuscitation in the domestic area - calls involving many injured - search for bodies, search for missing people - incidents with personnel being injured or killed - when a helper or a victim asks for spiritual support - suicide attempt - evacuation
- floods
Although the tasks of an emergency care pastor are always different, certain
guidelines concerning prerequisites, equipment and activities can be
established: 1) Completed theological education 2) Knowledge of the most common prayers and lithurgical acts 3) Ecumenical experience and acceptance (We cannot chose among the injured and are expected to care for Christians with different denominations as well as for people of other or no religions without offending them) 4) Knowledge in the organisation of emergency management. The pastor himself should be able to apply First Aid and has to be able to fit into the procedures. That means he has to be able to deal with life-threatening situations and to cooperate with the other professionals This knowledge is best acquired by continued active participation in an emergency organization. 5) The pastor himself should seek pastoral care for his impessions and frustrations. 6) Temporarily release from his local tasks and dayly work in order to become active beyond his parish lines.
7) The pastor has to fulfill the same physical requirements as the rescue
workers in order to manage the physical demands without problems. 1) Full protective clothing, including turnout-coat, helmet, label: EMERGENCY PASTORAL CARE attached, boots, gloves, flash light. 2) Emergency kit for pastoral care: eucharistic bag, holy oil and vestments, writing tablet for important messages, phone numbers of parishes concerned, telephone directory with helpful hotline numbers.
3) Pager for notification and, if possible, radio for communication during the
call.
After the call, the pastor will respond to the scene. There he reports to the
incident commander in order to find out what tasks he has for him. It would be
best, if the rescue coordinator and the pastor already know each other and know
what to expect from each other. The local pastor in charge should be informed,
if possible, before the emergency chaplain responds. If this is impossible,
contact has to be established in form of a written report directly after the
mission. In case that a pastor of a different denamination is required at the
accident site, this pastor should be notified right away and should be offered
all help possible.
Patch of the emergency pastoral care AGS = Association for Pastoral Care in Fire
and Medical Rescue Services (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Seelsorge in Feuerwehr und
Rettungsdienst). The red circle symbolizes the world and its needs. Red is the
color of the blood of many injured and killed people, we deal with in
emergencies. The red circle is overlayed by a cross which also looks like a
star. The cross has always been the sign of the Christian faith in the
resurrection. It stands for the conquering of death by Jesus Christ. The star is
the sign of hope in this world. The starcross reaches beyond the red circle.
That means: The purpose of emergency pastoral care is to help in this world but
also to emphasize the reality which superseeds our knowledge and understanding:
God.
Prior to his church activities pastor Hanjo v. Wietersheim was involved in law
enforcement by serving as a police officer. He is certified paramedic and also
an active voluntary fire fighter with additional training in breathing apparatus
operation. He has founded, together with other pastors, the AGS, that he still
serves as a coordinator. He worked for 3 years as the first fulltime pastor in
the field of EPC. Since 1996 he shares this job with a second pastor and is a
halftime-Minister for the parish of Wiesenbronn. As the Commissioner for
Emergency Pastoral Care he is responsable for the buildup and coordination of
EPC in the Protestant Lutheran Church in Bavaria.
The Commissioner for Emergency Pastoral Care and Pastoral Care in Fire and
Rescue Department in the Protestant Lutheran Church in Bavaria
Pastor Hanjo v.Wietersheim Back to Start |
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