PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Shapiro administration and Pennsylvania emergency management officials are hoping to expand workers' compensation coverage for first responders in this year’s proposed budget.
The concern is making sure firefighters, paramedics and other first responders injured during state-declared emergencies receive workers’ compensation, something that isn’t currently guaranteed.
“We asked a lot of the workers compensation insurance providers, ‘Are they covered if they would move outside of their home jurisdiction?’” said Randy Padfield, Pennsylvania’s director of emergency management. “Some of them came back and said yes. Some of them came back and said no. Some said we would cover them in these areas, but not for state deployment.”
Lt. Gov. Austin Davis said one item in the proposed budget would build on Act 121, which went into effect last year and removed some obstacles to first responders receiving compensation when diagnosed with post-traumatic stress injury. He said Act 121 was important, but only the start.
“Unfortunately, we're seeing more and more extreme weather events, and that means we're going to have more deployments. We need to address what's currently a gap in coverage under state law,” said Davis.
According to State Fire Commissioner Thomas Cook, studies suggest nearly 1 in 7 first responders experienced PTSI for many years. “Many suffered silently, in part because the system made it unnecessarily difficult to receive support,” he said.
Delaware County Democratic state Rep. Jen O’Mara, whose father was a Philadelphia firefighter, was a sponsor of the bill.
“Even as a kid, I could understand that first responders are heroes. They're not superheroes,” said O’Mara.
“Unfortunately, we learn that in a really sad and tragic way. In 2003, my dad died by gun suicide about 30 minutes after coming home from a shift.”
Davis said resources are available to first responders struggling with trauma.
“If you're a firefighter or an EMT or a police officer who has experienced trauma on the job, you need to know that you are not alone,” he said. “There are resources available. You can get help and get better.”