Great Falls Ski Patrol Patroller Wellness Program
Justification: Patrollers face stressful situations everyday in the course of performing their jobs. Whether patrollers are paid or volunteer, Patrollers may not be aware that while caring for ill or injured patients that they too could be impacted.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines stress as a state of worry or mental tension caused by a difficult situation. Stress is a natural human response that prompts us to address challenges threats, uncertainty or loss of control in our lives. Depending on how pronounced the uncertainty is, different degrees of stress may occur. A reasonable degree of activation, good stress, may contribute to the achievement of the individual’s goals for example an athlete who wants to perform at the top level in a competition. If the uncertainty and stress are greater, it may be described as tolerable stress, however, if the uncertainty and stress are more pronounced, it may be described as toxic and thus lead to physical or mental suffering over time.
A traumatic incident may result from an accident, natural or manmade disaster, mass casualty, interpersonal violence, or technological failure. A traumatic incident may involve exposure to catastrophic events, severely injured children and/or adults, dead bodies or body parts, or loss of a colleague.
A large majority of the population will be exposed to a potentially traumatic event during their lifetime; however, a much smaller number of individuals will be at risk of more serious psychiatric conditions such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety disorder, alcohol use disorder, substance use disorder or other psychiatric conditions following potentially traumatic events.
Patrols and patrollers are not all the same, there is a large variation of how individuals respond to a traumatic incident. Individuals may be at higher risk of serious reactions if heir own life was threatened, or if they develop guilt/shame from their involvement in the event. Previous exposure and upbringing can dramatically affect our responses.
Why: A patroller’s health and well-being are crucial in making clearheaded choices on and off the mountain.
Purpose: Providing guidance and resources for all members to assist in understanding and initial wellness concepts, dialogue, and peer support learning with the goal of developing resiliency throughout the GFSP team/members. It is important that each patroller has an awareness of their fellow patrollers on a regular basis. Facilitating conversations and providing peer support will develop resiliency throughout the patrol.
Develop an awareness and eliminate the stigma of stress injuries patroller may face in the day-to-day routines. Recognize and address the impact of stress on patrollers mental and physical well being of patrollers.
Policy: Three levels:
Procedure:
1. Showdown Operations Director contacts the Wellness Program Lead to review incident.
a. Concern can be as a result of responding to a n incident, a behavior displayed during duty, or a concern brought to the attention of the Wellness team.
2. If it warrants a deeper dive, Wellness team conference and determine course of action:
a. Contact main patrollers, assess the situation and status of patrollers
b. Plan (may include)
i. Contact Day Leader, Individual team members, E Board members, Showdown Management, Outside Resources
ii. Check-ins of those involved
iii. Additional training, education
iv. Follow up
(Modeled after NSP Wellness Program.)
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines stress as a state of worry or mental tension caused by a difficult situation. Stress is a natural human response that prompts us to address challenges threats, uncertainty or loss of control in our lives. Depending on how pronounced the uncertainty is, different degrees of stress may occur. A reasonable degree of activation, good stress, may contribute to the achievement of the individual’s goals for example an athlete who wants to perform at the top level in a competition. If the uncertainty and stress are greater, it may be described as tolerable stress, however, if the uncertainty and stress are more pronounced, it may be described as toxic and thus lead to physical or mental suffering over time.
A traumatic incident may result from an accident, natural or manmade disaster, mass casualty, interpersonal violence, or technological failure. A traumatic incident may involve exposure to catastrophic events, severely injured children and/or adults, dead bodies or body parts, or loss of a colleague.
A large majority of the population will be exposed to a potentially traumatic event during their lifetime; however, a much smaller number of individuals will be at risk of more serious psychiatric conditions such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety disorder, alcohol use disorder, substance use disorder or other psychiatric conditions following potentially traumatic events.
Patrols and patrollers are not all the same, there is a large variation of how individuals respond to a traumatic incident. Individuals may be at higher risk of serious reactions if heir own life was threatened, or if they develop guilt/shame from their involvement in the event. Previous exposure and upbringing can dramatically affect our responses.
Why: A patroller’s health and well-being are crucial in making clearheaded choices on and off the mountain.
Purpose: Providing guidance and resources for all members to assist in understanding and initial wellness concepts, dialogue, and peer support learning with the goal of developing resiliency throughout the GFSP team/members. It is important that each patroller has an awareness of their fellow patrollers on a regular basis. Facilitating conversations and providing peer support will develop resiliency throughout the patrol.
Develop an awareness and eliminate the stigma of stress injuries patroller may face in the day-to-day routines. Recognize and address the impact of stress on patrollers mental and physical well being of patrollers.
Policy: Three levels:
- Morning meeting check-in
- End of day debrief
- High Trauma incident
Procedure:
1. Showdown Operations Director contacts the Wellness Program Lead to review incident.
a. Concern can be as a result of responding to a n incident, a behavior displayed during duty, or a concern brought to the attention of the Wellness team.
2. If it warrants a deeper dive, Wellness team conference and determine course of action:
a. Contact main patrollers, assess the situation and status of patrollers
b. Plan (may include)
i. Contact Day Leader, Individual team members, E Board members, Showdown Management, Outside Resources
ii. Check-ins of those involved
iii. Additional training, education
iv. Follow up
(Modeled after NSP Wellness Program.)