Washington County forming new team to help first responders cope with trauma of job

In the wake of this week's tragedy in Mt. Lebanon, mental health is top of mind, including for first responders.Leaders in Washington County said they recognized the need for additional support more than a year and a half ago. Now, they're forming a new team to help first responders cope with the job's trauma."It's not easy, but sometimes running a call right after a bad call kind of helps a little bit," Chartiers Township Volunteer Fire Department Chief Robert Fetty said. "But it's difficult. Sometimes it takes weeks, months, years."Fetty said Washington County recognized the desperate need and wanted to act on it quickly."A lot of the time there would be a critical incident a bad call or a situation where it would be overwhelming for the first responder," Fetty said. "And a lot of the times, they didn't know where to go."Fetty is now the operations director of Washington County's newly formed Critical Incident Stress Management team, a resource for first responders after traumatic