People gathered by podium at MN Firefighter health event

A Milestone for Minnesota Firefighter Health

It’s a land­mark and emo­tion­al day for Minnesota’s fire ser­vice and for us at Bell­mont Part­ners: Our state leg­is­la­ture passed the Home­town Heroes Assis­tance Pro­gram, which ensures that every Min­neso­ta fire­fight­er will have access to edu­ca­tion, pre­ven­tion and care need­ed to han­dle a car­diac, emo­tion­al trau­ma or can­cer diag­no­sis. We are grate­ful to be a part of the team that helped make this hard-fought win hap­pen, led by our client the Min­neso­ta Fire­fight­er Ini­tia­tive (MnFIRE).

Gov­er­nor Walz signed the bill into law yes­ter­day, in the shad­ow of the Min­neso­ta Fall­en Fire­fight­er Memo­r­i­al – where our part­ner­ship with the state’s fire ser­vice began 10 years ago. In 2011, we start­ed work­ing with the Min­neso­ta Fire Ser­vice Foun­da­tion on a pro bono basis to build aware­ness and raise $700,000 to move the state’s fire­fight­er memo­r­i­al from its orig­i­nal home – hid­den near the bag­gage claim at MSP Inter­na­tion­al Air­port – to where it stands today, on the State Capi­tol grounds.

In 2016, we helped launch MnFIRE, the statewide advo­ca­cy orga­ni­za­tion that equips fire­fight­ers and the peo­ple who care about them with resources to address the grow­ing health cri­sis in the Min­neso­ta fire ser­vice. From mes­sag­ing to media rela­tions, design to events, we’ve been hon­ored to work with MnFIRE every step of the way.

Over the years, we’ve griev­ed with fire­fight­ers and their fam­i­lies at funer­als, cel­e­brat­ed mile­stones as we’ve tak­en steps to get clos­er to ful­fill­ing MnFIRE’s mis­sion, and worked to help arm our state’s 20,000 fire­fight­ers with the tools and train­ing they need to pri­or­i­tize and pro­tect their health. Near­ly every Bell­mont Part­ners team mem­ber has played a role, and we could not be more proud that our col­lec­tive work has changed – and saved – lives.

While a few final details are still being worked out, the Home­town Heroes Assis­tance Pro­gram will:

  • Pro­vide a statewide “Crit­i­cal Care” pol­i­cy for all Min­neso­ta fire­fight­ers which cov­ers diag­noses of can­cer or car­diac issues. Cov­er­age amount is $20,000 per diagnosis.
  • Cre­ate a MnFIRE Assis­tance Pro­gram (MnAP) for all Min­neso­ta fire­fight­ers tar­get­ing emo­tion­al trau­ma issues unique to the fire ser­vice, and ensure addi­tion­al sup­port for fire­fight­ers who remain in need beyond ini­tial treat­ment sessions.
  • Sup­port ongo­ing annu­al MnFIRE Aware­ness train­ing for every Min­neso­ta fire­fight­er. Chang­ing the cur­rent cul­ture in the Min­neso­ta Fire Ser­vice is inte­gral to long-term reduc­tion of the inci­dences of car­diac issues, emo­tion­al trau­ma and cancer.
  • Sus­tain annu­al MnFIRE Aware­ness Train­ing for med­ical doc­tors and men­tal health pro­fes­sion­als statewide so all fire­fight­ers in Min­neso­ta have region­al access to informed and trained med­ical pro­fes­sion­als to help with pre­ven­tion, mit­i­ga­tion, diag­no­sis and treat­ment of car­diac issues, emo­tion­al trau­ma and cancer.

Con­grat­u­la­tions to every­one who con­tributed their time, exper­tise, pas­sion and resources toward mak­ing this impor­tant ini­tia­tive a real­i­ty. We feel priv­i­leged to be a part of the team.

Leave a Reply

Trade Shows are Back! Three Ways to Maximize your Trade Show Presence
March 22, 2023
Five women stand together on a stage
Seven Takeaways from the 2023 Explore Minnesota Tourism Conference
March 16, 2023
Graphic of three headshots in circle frames
Bellmont Partners Promotes Three Team Members to Support Continued Growth
March 10, 2023
Reporters listen to the governor speak at a ceremonial bill signing
Five Ways to Break Down Communications Barriers and Champion Change at the Capitol
March 6, 2023
Two women sit talking
Q&A With Bellmont Partners’ New Project Manager, Gretchen Sitzer
January 31, 2023
Going Green Earns Gold
January 25, 2023

Categories