HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. — First responders in Georgia who witness trauma on the job may soon get worker's compensation.
A proposed bill for the general assembly's new session could clear the way.
The goal of HB451 is to recognize post-traumatic disorders for witnesses to trauma, and not solely on the first responders who physically endure trauma.
Currently, when first responders in Georgia are diagnosed with PTSD, they can get worker's comp-- but only if they have a physical injury.
The legislation would create an insurance program for first responders, including law enforcement officers, paramedics and firefighters.
First responders are more likely to die by suicide than they are in the line of duty, according to the CDC.
Houston County EMA Director Chief Chris Stoner has been a first responder since 2003.
Since then, he'd never lost one of his own to suicide, until 2023.
"It's affected just about every agency in this nation," Stoner said. "I know it affected us, just last year."
After two decades on the job, Stoner says he knows the reality he and his colleagues face on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.
"We get to go visit people on their worst day," Stoner said. "Nobody picks up the phone and calls 911 because they want to. They've witnessed something, or they've been a part of something, or something happened in their personal life that they have to rely on strangers to help them with it."
Strangers who have to help everybody in some of the most traumatic situations of their lives, like a car crash, an elder taking their last breath and the list goes on, according to Stoner.
State Representative Ken Vance (R) from Milledgeville agrees this legislation could reduce mental health stigmas.
Vance is a member of the House Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security that will review the bill when the legislative session resumes on Monday.
"Mental health is everybody," he said. "It's not just a few people, and it affects law enforcement officers and first responders, probably much more extremely than anything else. I don't think anything would be more than that than actually being in an armed conflict than the military."
HB451 would help pay for therapy, which can be expensive to pay out of pocket.
It would also provide three years of partial salary protection if a first responder needs to take time away from work to heal.
"We see so many people come and go because of this kinda stuff," Vance said.
Stoner said this bill could send the message to his colleagues that there is help.
"Anything that's going to help open that up even more and make that a topic that's okay to discuss is certainly going to benefit us in the long run," Stoner said.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can call the suicide and crisis lifeline at 988.