It All Starts With A Phone Call
By Chaplain David Woody
In an April 2006 article in Firehouse magazine entitled, Interoperability Begins With Relationships, retired District of Columbia Deputy Chief Michael L. Smith asked the question, “How well do you know the people with whom you will be working? What is your relationship with all of the other agencies in your area? …How well you know these people will go a long way toward mitigating any incident successfully.”[1]
Chief Smith was talking about the role of the incident commander in a mutual aid situation. I do not believe we, in our role as chaplains, will be serving as incident commander anytime soon. However, we are compelled to pay very close attention to what Chief Smith has to say. A crisis situation is not the time to be making introductions and examining other’s credentials.[2] As a good friend often says, “An emergency scene is not the place to exchange business cards!”
The emergency service chaplain cannot sit around and wait for the phone to ring. As in all ministries, we must spend our time building relationships with those in our care as well as those who assist us in caring for others. When you receive the call that a family has been burned out, it is already too late to try and find out the name of your area Red Cross director.
Here are some practical things we can do:
- Get to know your people. This one is the easy one. Spend time with the people to whom you are called to serve…’nuff said!
- Get to know those who will serve in the capacity of incident commander in your department. They need to know your face and your heart BEFORE they have to call you.
- Get to know the heads of other departments and agencies like public works, National Guard, police, schools, hospitals, Red Cross, Salvation Army, or Emergency Management. You may very well be the one to make the call to them for help in a crisis situation. When you are given that assignment, will you know who to call…and will you know their cell phone number?
- Get to know your counterparts in other departments. You cannot handle every emergency on your own. When things are happening quickly and more than one person needs to talk to the chaplain right now, OR, you are in your town and one of your firefighters has just been flown to a burn unit in a city four hours away, who are you going to call? That is why we are members of the FFC. Take advantage of the training opportunities offered by the Federation. Attend meetings and conferences even when you have “already had that training.” The day will come when you will need to call on a brother or sister chaplain. Get to know each other NOW so that when that day comes, we can truly serve those who serve others.
It starts with a phone call. Try it. You can’t do it by yourself. A crisis is not the time to “exchange business cards.”
[1] Michael L. Smith, “Interoperability Begins With Relationship,” Firehouse April 2006: 44-45
[2] Smith 45.
