Ambulance Workers Say They Need PTSD Benefits, Too

Wednesday, July 10, 2019 | 0

Ambulance workers experience grisly scenes and suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, too, according to emergency personnel in Connecticut who are miffed that a new workers' compensation law does not include them.

The ambulance workers now hope to organize and lobby lawmakers to extend the PTSD benefits to them as well, the Hartford newspaper reported.

"We're now awake, and we will be paying attention, and we will come to the point where we have a solid, unified voice," said Robert Glaspy, a paramedic from Milford who is helping lead the effort. "This is a situation where we just want to give everybody a voice. We want to give every EMS provider — as a provider — a voice, not for any particular company, not for any particular entity."

After six years of debate, Connecticut lawmakers this year approved Senate Bill 164, which makes PTSD compensable for police officers, firefighters and some parole officers. The workers must experience at least one of six types of traumatic events.

Emergency medical technicians and ambulance workers employed by a fire department are covered under the measure, but other EMTs are excluded. An amendment introduced in the final days of the legislature would have extended PTSD coverage to all EMTs, but lawmakers agreed instead to another amendment, which requires a committee to study coverage for the other first responders or correctional officers.