Did you know that firefighters respond to 94% out-of-hospital cardiac arrests? Firefighters are almost always the first to respond as they can be on the scene in minutes which is critical for resuscitation. Hato Hone St John report records that 24% of patients resuscitated survived to get to hospital with 11 percent surviving longer.
The world-renown men’s health Movember has been funding annual research in the wellbeing of FENZ career firefighters, 111 dispatchers and other staff which has exposed dire states of mental health.
In 2023 the survey found:
- 92.8% Â firefighters and 39.0% of non-uniformed personnel reported at least one Post Traumatic Events (PTE) exposure (directly, indirectly or witnessed) in the last 12 months of their work with FENZ
- 40.1% of firefighter and 19.1% of uniformed managers were exposed to 20 or more PTE exposures in the last 12 months
- Uniformed Comms Centre staff reported the highest rate of PTE exposures with 74.5% in the last month and 81.8% in the last 12 months
- In general the prevalence of mental ill health indicators increased with length of service
- The findings of mental ill health are consistent with international prevalence rates of depression, anxiety, and PTSD in firefighters and other emergency responders
- Nearly 3 in every 4 surveyed reported a strong sense of pride in being part of FENZ but that sense of pride declines as the length of service increases.
- Only 13.2% of all respondents and 6.6% of firefighters felt supported by FENZ as an organisation but 80.7% reported positive perceptions of support from co-workers
- About a third of all respondents agrees they could freely bring up issues without fear of reprisal and this was higher among non-uniformed managers (64.3%) and the lowest rates among uniformed firefighters (24.4%) and communications centre staff (25.9%)
- About a third of those surveyed reported turning up for work when unwell with higher rates reported for  uniformed comms centre staff (46.6%) and other uniformed employees (40.8%)
The NZPFU currently funds at least two members to attend the Te Kiwi Maia emergency services rehabilitation, recovery, and respite programme for emergency responders.
FENZ is refusing to treat the agreed mental health and wellbeing residential programmes as training which would assist in removing the stigma of mental health programmes and fund travel and other incidentals.
