Show of support: Lodi welcomes seven new chaplains
May 17—The Lodi Police and Fire departments this week welcomed seven new colleagues who will provide emotional and spiritual support not only to victims of tragedy, but to officers and firefighters as well.
The two agencies held a badge-pinning ceremony for their chaplains in the Rick Cromwell Community Room at the police department Tuesday.
While each department has its own team of chaplains who assist with well-being, either at a crime scene, at an accident, or even at the office, Police Chief Rick Garcia and Fire Chief Ken Johnson said support is a community effort.
"This community is very diverse, so the burden of our officers and firefighters ... the burden they carry is tremendous," Garcia said. "And having emotional and spiritual guidance available is very important, as the dangers that our officers and firefighters face every shift and the emergencies that happen in our community ... they're immense, and they happen daily."
The purpose of what Garcia called "public safety chaplains" is to help lighten the burden officers and fire personnel carry with them.
As a team, he said, the chaplains work with those employees they help to make a difference in the lives of those that are touched by tragedy.
Johnson said that across the nation there are reports of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and suicides among public safety employees increasing in huge numbers.
"We want to stand in that gap and catch people on their worst days, and hopefully lift them to something better," he said. "We first responders are really good at standing in that gap. What we're not good at is taking care of ourselves in the process."
On several occasions over the last three years, Johnson said, chaplains in both departments have responded to countless emergency scenes and fire hazards after tragedy has struck.
"Often times a chaplain is 'just available,'" he said.."They listen, they share stories, they share life. They're there to give advice. They're there to point people in the right direction when they're having challenges. They're there to support first responders' families. They've been there to cry and to hold the mother who lost their child, the wife who lost their husband, or on scene at major accidents to sort the chaos."
Chaplains sworn in Wednesday included Bob Morgan, Steve Steele, Chet Somera, Sandy Richards, Father Ronnie Manango of St. Anne's Catholic Church, Matt Liu and Dan Lane.
Steele, a pastor at First Baptist Church, said he is relatively new to chaplaincy, and was recruited "mostly" by several firefighters.
"Just yesterday I was riding along with a crew and they said now you can tell everybody you've been doing 'the things.'" he said. "And doing the things is what I really signed up to do. It was really to do things with you, alongside you and walk through the hard stuff. We'd seen a few of those critical incidents where not only (fire department) had seen some hard stuff, but the community had seen some hard stuff. We want to walk through that with them."
Somera, a former Lodi officer, said he had many experiences where he could have used the support of a chaplain over the course of his 30-year career.
"We didn't really have anybody to talk to," he said.
"We were just bottling it up inside. And I just feel that when I took over the coronation of the chaplains' program, I felt the whole experience was just grabbing me and saying 'hey, you have something to offer people with your experience. I hope I can be that person for firefighters and police, to be there and listen, and maybe give a little advice."
