The West Grove Fire Company team of first responders is very involved in county-level emergency services organizations and response teams. WGFC firefighters and EMTs are involved in work on disaster response, regional rescue, state & county EMS task forces, Chief's Association, County EMS Council and countless activities where West Grove can both contribute and learn.

One of those activities is critical to the health and wellness of emergency providers and the WGFC is playing an active role. We are proud of the six fire company members who have been trained in and are a part of the Chester County Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) Team.

Emergency service providers are exposed, on a daily basis, to events which the general public seldom encounter. They are in a position in which life and death experiences are common and almost routine. Research has identified that these emergency service providers are paying a heavy personal price because of this exposure to human trauma.

The mission of the Chester County CISM Team is to provide a corps of trained volunteers and professionals to help emergency first responders handle stress. Team members are mental health professionals, emergency service peers, and clergy. Each team member is trained and experienced in his/her own field and has undergone a specifically-prescribed course of instruction in Emergency Service Stress Intervention.

At West Grove, Danielle Hughes has recently joined with Rob Kloss, Mike Lindsay, Lisa Glass and Ted Fosselman already serving on the County CISM Team. WGFC's Sophia Crossan will be officially joining shortly.

The CISM process is not an operational critique, but a confident, non-evaluative discussion of the involvement, thoughts, reactions, and feelings resulting from an incident. The CISM process is designed to facilitate a "normal recovery process in a normal person suffering normal effects after an encounter with an abnormal situation."

After a serious or unusual call, any emergency services organization can request a CISM team response, either for a group of responders or even an individual responder. The goal is to help responders recover from these difficult calls, and all interactions are confidential counseling sessions to let responders talk, vent, and recover. These services are available as needed whenever first responders need support, and are free of charge to Chester County emergency services personnel and agencies.

Experience shows that the work of the County CISM team can really help first responders recover from particularly difficult calls, helping responders with their personal mental health, and helping to retain people in the emergency services. At the WGFC, we are proud that our people are a part of this great effort, and grateful that such a response team is available to all of us in the first responder profession.

For more information on the CISM Team see: https://www.chesco.org/3101/CISM-Team and https://www.facebook.com/ChescoCISM/