Anna Courie, Director of Responder Wellness for the FirstNet Program at AT&T, joins Cheddar News to discuss important coalitions FirstNet is working on like 'ROG the Dog,' an animal-assisted therapy program.

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AT&T's FirstNet Launches Animal-Assisted Therapy for First Responders

compared to the general population. First responders experience higher rates of depression. PTSD burnout anxiety and other mental health issues and in law enforcement. One study found that more than 20 year difference in life expectancy compared to the average american male. So aiming to help this issue is dedicated public safety network built with a T and T. Called First Net. So we're joined now by anna curry, the director of responders wellness for First Net program at A T and T. Good to have you here. Thanks so much for joining us to explain first a little bit for us more about the significance of first responders and their mental health compared to the general population here. Absolutely, thank you so much for having me here today. I don't think our communities really understand uh, the significance of running towards problems in their communities when they're responding to disaster. One study found that 20 to 25% Excuse me in first the first responder population, 20 to 25% of them experience pTSD this has an incredible impact on their personal lives in their response in their work lives. And we really want to try and do something about that in an effective way. Okay, so Ana First Net is built with a T and T for specific use by first responders, explain a little bit about this wellness coalition that's working here to sort of help support this issue here. Absolutely. First step built with a T and T. Um was congressional e mandated in the wake of 9 11 and Congress mandated to stand up a dedicated broadband network built with and for public safety so that they did not have to compete on the network for utilization of bandwidth when they were running towards problems. Now, what we found out as when AT&T was awarded that contract in 2017, we started deploying hand in hand with public safety to ensure their communications network through our response operations group. And what we were seeing was that impact the things that you see, the things you touch, the things you smell, the things you hear in emergency response is really unlike anything else. And unless you've experienced it yourself, you don't quite understand what it's like to run towards problems instead of away from it. So, in the wake of that experience of deploying with public safety First Net established the first Health and Wellness Coalition to bring together the leadership from over two dozen national public safety associations so that we could collaborate plan, prepare and work together on how we address these problems for our first responder population. It's really about collaboration and working together with our public safety partners to find those evidence based solutions that address, just like you were talking about post traumatic stress, depression, anxiety burnout, those things that are really plaguing our public safety professionals right now. Absolutely. And one of the things that I like that you guys are doing through the coalition first that is established an animal assisted therapy program as well, which I love because who doesn't love animals to explain how animals are really helping here. Absolutely. So what you're exactly, who doesn't love a furry animal? Um our dog Rocky, the dog is affectionately named for our response operations group that I mentioned before with our first net deployable team. And what we said to public safety when we committed to building out the network was that we were going to be there for you and your communications before, during and after disaster. And when it came to standing up the health and wellness program, we wanted to have a very tactical and significant hands on experience that was evidence based in deploying wellness services when disaster happens to our customers. So what you're seeing here with the rock the dog is animal assisted therapy. When what research has shown us is that animal assisted therapy therapy dogs can help responders cope and kind of come off of the stress high that they experienced when responding to disaster. So it's been played a significant role in helping with stress management, coping um calm and, and, and and kind of regaining their sense of balance after a truly significant event. Absolutely. Anna with the minute or so. I have left here with you. Are there other programs on the horizon that you guys are working on here? Oh, absolutely. There's a whole portfolio of programs that first met. Is committed to supporting in hand in hand with the coalition to address first responder health and wellness. As we mentioned, PTSD raise 20 to 25% in the first responder population. We have partnered with Boulder crest Foundation for post traumatic growth in order to work with public safety organizations on how to address post traumatic stress within this population in meaningful ways. That program in one agency showed a 51% improvement in the post traumatic growth index. Really, really transforming lives, Really helping to see these responders for these responders to see the opportunity for growth following and even in the middle of responding to disaster. I'm so glad all the work that you guys are doing. It's amazing what you're doing here. Anna curry, the director of responder wellness for the first time program over at AT and T. Thank you so much for joining us here on cheddar news.