JULY 2021 Blues Vol 37 No. 7

WORDS BY MICHAEL BARRON

WORDS BY MICHAEL BARRON these difficult times. The answer unfortunately was that there are none. At least not for emotional support as opposed to financial help. We both agreed this needs to change. Therefore, The BLUES will begin exploring all options to create such a group or find an existing group that will assist these officers and their families. Every day, a first responder gets injured on the job in Texas. When it happens, especially if the officer is shot or critically injured, we all respond immediately. We create a rolling roadblock to get the officer to the hospital as quickly as possible. Someone is sent to the officer’s house to get their spouse to the hospital and to their side as soon as possible. Hundreds of fellow officers crowd every square inch of the hospital waiting on word from the docs that they will be OK. The next day, some of the officers stay behind to make sure the hospital is secure and to take care of the family members. But as hours, turn into days, then weeks and months, the flow of officers turns to a trickle. Soon only family and maybe the officer’s closet friends come to visit. The wounded officer has months and maybe years of physical therapy ahead of them. Many times, they have numerous surgeries and more and more recovery rooms. Every day is just a fight to stay alive and get back to some sort of normalcy. As the days, weeks and months wear on, officers feel more and more alone and forgotten. Of course, they realize that cops have their shift to work, extra jobs, family; their own lives to deal with. And then there’s the fallen officers that take precedence over the wounded. Their families need support and attention as well. It’s a never-ending chain of events that take place all over the US every single day. I’m just as guilty as everyone else when it comes to reaching out to friends and officers still recovering from gunshots, accidents, assaults, fires and yes even aircraft crashes. We get all wrapped up in our daily lives and while you mean to call or visit your buddies, you just forget. Well, we need to do better. All of us need to take time to at least call or text our brothers and sisters in blue and tell them we are thinking about them and ask how they’re doing. We owe them that and more. Chase Cormier is one friend I try and stay in touch with. I know he was a wonderful wife and tons of friends, but when you’re injured and it’s a long road back to leading a normal life, you can never have too many friends. Chase still faces many challenges but has an incredible mental attitude. He has this “I will not fail, and I will get back to normal one way or another” outlook on life. But no matter how positive he may be, he still needs reassurance from all of us that we have his back. That we love him and his wife Brooke and that we will always, always be there for them. Unfortunately, not all injured officers have this positive attitude and feel lost and abandoned by their peers and their department. Sure, everybody was there when they were injured, but as time went by, it seemed they were forgotten and written off. Some are still hospitalized while others are recovering at home. Many live with permanent disabilities. Some stuck in wheelchairs for life, and others even bedridden. It’s a terrible way of life for those that sacrificed so much for their department. Not to mention the strain it places on their family, both emotionally as well as financially. As I wrote this, I reached out to our editor Rex Evans to see what programs or support groups exist to help officers through Have a unique story you’d like to share with the BLUES readers? Send it to: bluespdmag@ gmail.com. Please change all the names to protect the innocent and to avoid prosecution in the event that the statute of limitations hasn’t expired. 44 The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE 45