FRIDAY UPDATE
Brothers and Sisters,
This last week was a difficult week for our membership, we lost two of our Brothers. Brother Mark Tolbert, Battalion Chief, and Brother Kerry Crabtree, Dispatcher. Click here to view the memorial services which were held today for Brother Tolbert. On behalf of all our Brothers and Sisters, we offer our condolences to the families and friends of both Brother Tolbert and Brother Crabtree.
Mark Tolbert was a respected and loved Local 1014 member who continued to be active in the work of the Union and the Department as a Chief Officer. He truly led by example and excellence was the standard.
SFD Crabtree was also a leader and a member who cared deeply about his brothers and sisters and equally about the mission to serve our citizens. We shall never forget and we shall honor their memory.
Our membership has faced numerous challenges over the past year, from losing our members both on and off the job, to large scale wildfires and ever-increasing call loads. This week, we are reminded that life is precious. That is why it is critically important to remind all our members to take care of each other.
Take a moment to check in with your brothers and sisters and to utilize the resources in your stations via the Local 1014 Mental Health Resources poster. Firefighters and First Responders, we are conditioned to be tough and strong—we are conditioned to be superheroes for our community. However, just like physical safety, behavioral health is something that must be conditioned and maintained. The peers and support teams are always there to help. Take care of each other.
To that end, Local 1014 was honored to host the Behavioral Health Peer Support Team Leads meeting this week at the Union Hall. During the past few months, through our Peer Coordinator Scott Ross, we have seen significant progress towards building a Behavioral Health Program that works for our members, has technology that fits our needs and is easily and confidentially accessible for all. More on this to come in the months ahead as we look to hire fire-centric culturally-competent clinicians to support our peers and our members.
We will have a more in-depth update and a timeline for our salary raises, and our fringe benefits contract next week.
