Netjets US Summer 2023

GOODWILL
he needed to remove the stigma. After
convincing his wife that they needed to move
back to Ohio, the two officers brainstormed
about the best way to help frontline workers
with the undiscussed post-traumatic stress,
depression, substance abuse, and anxiety
that were breaking up families and ruining
the lives of those who got into this dangerous
line of work only to assist others. They
knew they had to include the spouses and
significant others “since they walk with us
every step of the way, even when we don’t
let them,” says Yinger. They knew they had
to include the dispatchers and corrections
officers, who aren’t typically considered
first responders, “but the stressors they
go through, it’s a lot,” he explains. And the
pair knew the experience had to be rich and
immersive and welcoming to be impactful,
so it had to expand across a few days and
include small groups for meaningful, honest,
open private discussions.
The result: First Responders’ Bridge, a
three-day retreat for active and retired first
responders and their significant others who
are experiencing post-traumatic stress.
It’s completely free to attendees, including
transportation from the airport and meals,
so cost is never a barrier to care. The first
retreat took place at the Marriott Columbus
Northwest Hotel in Dublin, Ohio, in February
2019. “We would have been happy if we had 20
people attend and we ended up having 91 from
5 states”” Yinger marvels. “The need is huge.”
“After Covid and the riots, we saw the
public seemingly turning their back on first
responders,” recalls Yinger. “But still these
people suffer from complex traumas. It’s
kind of like death by a thousand cuts. You
go out there and put your life on the line,
then turn on the news and everyone hates
you.” Everything is paid for by donations,
including generous funding from NetJets,
a longtime corporate sponsor which
discovered the nonprofit through police
officers in central Ohio. “The pilots said
they had a heart for first responders, and
they wanted to connect us to NetJets,”
Yinger says with gratitude. Since 99% of
all the money The Bridge brings in goes to
programming the $70,000-per-weekend
retreats, it’s a solid investment. August 2023
will mark the nonprofit’s 12th gathering.
Anthony Bizzarro, the fire chief in
Bellbrook, Ohio, knows the need for the
sort of care The Bridge provides as well as
anyone on the front lines. He’s been with the
fire department for 28 years, and by 2021,
the trauma he’d witnessed had caught up
with him in a bad way. “I would go to work,
come home, find a place on the couch, and
stay there until it was time to go to bed.
Then wake up and repeat it all, like it was
‘Groundhog Day,’” the husband and father of
two admits. “There was nothing that brought
joy to my life for years.” He says he was
engaging in some conduct that was hurting
him and his family, and he couldn’t see a
way out—until his wife found The Bridge
on social media (they have a robust private
Facebook group), and essentially gave him
an ultimatum. “She was willing to work with
me and try this out. And at that point, I was
willing to try anything to save my marriage
and my life,” Bizzarro says.
That first day was tough. As speaker after
speaker shared their stories, the fire chief’s
wife would nod along, agreeing that these were
behaviors she’d seen at home—depression,
suicidal ideation, verbal abuse, snapping at
the smallest things, withdrawing from friends
and family. He felt attacked, but ultimately
underwent a mental shift. “Man, it was like
a soap opera. You could take the person out
of the scene and put a different person in
there, and they would all have the same story,”
he recalls. “It started sinking in that I’m not
alone, that these experiences aren’t anything
unique to me. The Bridge opened my eyes to
that, and I realized some of these choices were
mine. All of them were mine, actually. They
were my doing.” He also came to understand
that every time he drove through certain
areas of town, he would visually remember a
“
–Mick
We let them know there is nothing wrong with them.
They are having a normal human reaction to
the abnormal things they see on the job every day.
Yinger
12 NetJets