Episode 76: Flipping the Script with Paul Pongratz
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Today s*** got weird and my IG friend Paul Pongratz interviewed me and asked all kinds of great questions about setting up FD health and wellness programs. I hope you'll get some good nuggets out of this one because he asked great questions.
Paul Pongratz has been a student of the Fire Service since 1998, he started his service as a volunteer in a combination department serving as a Firefighter and EMT.
In 2001 he was hired by the Chesapeake Fire Department and has served in a variety of assignments as a firefighter, company officer, and training officer, and is currently serving as a Captain and Station Commander of a multi-company district station.
In addition to his duties as a Captain, Paul has served as a member of the fire department peer support and behavioral health team since 2013. In 2015 he became the Peer Support Team Program Coordinator with the goal of raising awareness level at all levels of the department from the candidates in recruit school to the Command staff. While this was not an easy task, Paul gained the support of the command staff and with the assistance of like-minded members, the stigma of behavioral health has improved moving into the next generation of firefighters in his department.
Paul has seen how firefighters resistant to change can adapt to the changing of times while still being aggressive firefighters, and how rank can help support the ideas for improvement with the support of the next generation of firefighters.
Paul is married to wife Michelle, Father to Lily and Ashton, and Dog Dad to Annie. His family is his number one support system and the key to his work-life balance.
So what, now what?
An honest needs assessment is a logical place to start with any health and wellness program.
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