EMS Union Expands Mental Health Services to Members

To honor the memory of a fallen colleague, the Hays County EMS Association is expanding mental health services. The new union, which is negotiating its first contract with San Marcos Hays County EMS [SMHCEMS] in Texas, has signed a standalone agreement that will increase its members' access to mental health resources, effective immediately.

“Under the new deal, our approximately 110 members will have access to our peer support team and our contracted therapist for up to 180 days,” said Zack Phillips, president of the Hays County EMS Association. “This service is available to them after they stop working for San Marcos Hays County EMS, regardless of the reason that they left the job.”

As well, the new agreement provides "timeouts" to allow the Hays County EMS Association’s peer support group to confer with members after stressful calls, and additional mental health days for personnel to decompress.

The new union's efforts, its existing peer support group, and the employer’s willingness to help, were inspired by the suicide of former SMHCEMS employee Hayden Henshaw. The peer support group was founded and is now under the supervision of Captain Jon Mckane, who worked with Henshaw prior to coming to SMHCEMS.

SMHCEMS employee Dylan Thompson was Henshaw’s ambulance partner. The two of them attended the same paramedic school, then joined SMHCEMS at the same time.

Henshaw “loved helping people and made patients laugh all the time,” Thompson told KVUE News. His death in March 2022 after being let go by SMHCEMS “was devastating to us. I think when something like that happens to someone so close to you, I mean, a part of you kind of goes with them.”

“Jon started our peer support program based on the thought, ‘hey, is there something we could have done to help a friend out?’” Phillips said. “Then, as we got into bargaining, we decided to try and do more for our members who are facing the same emotional stress. After all, you have to wonder—how many times is this happening where somebody is on their last leg and that last leg is their job and then they lose their job? So that’s where this stemmed from: We want to keep this from happening to anybody else if that's possible.”

The fact that the Hays County EMS Association and its employer reached this deal before a first contract has even been signed speaks to how seriously Henshaw’s death affected them all.

“It is one of those things where everyone understands that mental health in general is lacking in recognition and being out there in the forefront,” Phillips said. “After all, first responders have a higher rate for PTSD than the general public, with 80% of first responders experiencing a traumatic event at work. Meanwhile, EMTs and paramedics are 139% more likely to die by suicide than the general population. This is why, when we formed our union, we told our members, ‘Hey guys, there's more to it than just hats and T-shirts’, which is usually what you see in most first responders unions. We can also do political activism and make things better, which is what we’re trying to do.”