Main photo: Huntsville Lake of Bays firefighters (back from left) Josh Vaisanen, Jacob Hehir, Brandon Bennett; (middle, standing, from left) Mandi Hargrave, Kevin Purcell; (front from left) Paul Bionda, Tyler Pearce, Chief Rob Collins, and Ryan Elbe are some of the department’s members participating in the Movember challenge (supplied)
Just over a dozen firefighters with the Huntsville/Lake of Bays Fire Department are participating in Movember this year to raise awareness and funds for men’s mental health.
“In terms of mental health and the fire service not a lot of people know that some of the statistics are kind of scary around first responders,” said Chief Rob Collins. “First responders are 10 times more likely to commit suicide than the general population and the other scary stat is that suicide has actually overtaken traumatic injuries in terms of how firefighters are dying. It used to be that we would go into a fire and get burned or suffer from smoke inhalation or injured somehow but that’s now taken a back seat to mental health. I think a lot of people don’t realize that. It’s something the fire service has been working hard on over the last few years: making sure we’re addressing that as a significant mechanism of injury for firefighters.”
The team has a goal to raise $2,500 and is part of the Great Canadian Fire Challenge, which has 230 firefighter teams raising funds for the cause. The team currently sits in 16th place for the amount of funds raised so far.
“Being a part of a global community of Mo bros and Mo sisters, bringing awareness to mental health and suicide prevention, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer is something I feel we all need to take part in,” said Geoff Alan, a firefighter with station 30 who has supported the cause in the past but will be growing his first Mo ‘stache this year. “I have had friends and family experience struggles with mental health and it’s a growing concern that many continue to struggle with. I have also had friends both inside the fire department and outside struggle and battle cancer. Bringing awareness to these issues has never been more important. More and more people are struggling with mental health this year, not only struggling with existing contributing factors, but additional issues brought on by COVID-19. We need to ensure we continue to bring awareness to the issues being faced by many and raise funds to help.”
Anyone can sign up for Movember and either grow a moustache as a conversation starter for men’s mental and physical health or run or walk 60 km to represent the 60 men lost to suicide each hour around the globe, or do both.
“I wanted to join as a Mo sister to help raise awareness for men’s mental health,” said Mandi Hargrave, a firefighter with station 3, who will be running 60 km in the month of November. “Women are more prone to talk and share when something is bothering them but men tend to keep quiet. Being one of a few female firefighters on our department, I think it’s important to support the men I work beside, the men in my family, and my male friends and encourage conversations around such an important topic.”
Firefighter Ryan Elbe (above left) plans to grow a ‘stache as well as run 60 km for Movember. Mandi Hargrave (above right) is participating to support her male peers.
Chief Collins has participated in Movember in past years and saw this as a great opportunity to meet some members of the fire department he hadn’t yet met and to have a great impact as a team raising funds.
“As they’ve started to focus more on mental health, I think it’s a really good fit for firefighters who want to get out and raise some money and have an impact,” he said. “Everybody cares about the cause. It’s not like we’re making that big of a sacrifice [by growing a moustache], but it really annoys our significant others and maybe puts us in a bit of an awkward spot or two over the course of the month. I hope people will value what we’re doing and support us. We’re going to do our best to make as much money and as big of an impact as we can as a team.”
Firefighters Jacob Hehir (above left) and Kevin Purcell are asking for the community’s help in ‘raising funds and awareness this Movember for all the dads, brothers, sons and mates in our lives.’
To support the Huntsville/Lake of Bays Fire Department visit their Mo space here. You can also follow their journey throughout the month on their Facebook and Instagram pages.
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Paul Whillans says
As it is a subject I am interested in, as far as know there hasn’t been a canadian look at suicide by occupation that covers data later than 2001, the most current information from the US seems to be a CDC study looking at data from 2012. I am wondering on what Chief Collins is making his suicide among first responders’ rate claim.
I can accept this piece as a “motherhood” article. It just seems unnecessary to inflate its relevance with suspect data…….C’est la mode
But perhaps I am just unaware……Can someone direct me to his reference?
Will Moore says
Me. Whillans
You could start your research with Health Canada in order to “validate “ your doubts.
PTSD, ASD, CISD, etc could also be “googled”. There are numerous papers that you can read to educate yourself on mental health and first responders and the impact it has.
Until you have walked a mile in their shoes, perhaps you could thank first responders for their service and sacrifice in keeping you
safe, instead of a passive aggressive attempt to diminish the heavy toll it takes.