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Erica Techo
Hoover firefighters and dispatchers recieves autism training for first responders during a three-day course. The course was taught by Birmingham Fire and Rescue's Lt. Chris Martin. Photo by Erica Techo.
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Erica Techo
Hoover firefighters and dispatchers recieves autism training for first responders during a three-day course. Photo by Erica Techo.
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Erica Techo
Hoover firefighters and dispatchers recieves autism training for first responders during a three-day course. The course was taught by Birmingham Fire and Rescue's Lt. Chris Martin. Photo by Erica Techo.
Hoover first responders participated in a three-day course to better prepare them for working with autistic individuals in an emergency situation.
Firefighters and dispatchers received training on how to identify autistic individuals and how to transport them if necessary during the course, which was taught and developed by Birmingham Fire and Rescue Lt. Chris Martin.
Martin created this free course after realizing there was a way for first responders to be better trained and able to better serve their community.
“It’s personal to me,” Martin said. “My son, he’s 15, he’s autistic, and I’m also a firefighter. So I’m a parent of an autistic individual, and I just want to explain to other fire and rescue personnel how we can better serve our community, and that is dealing with autistic individuals.”
The course included lessons about some of the common speech patterns or body movements autistic individuals may exhibit, as well as ways to help individuals who are hyper sensitive to touch or sound.
“We have learned how we can lessen some of that sensory overload that they may be facing,” Martin said.
Firefighters and emergency dispatchers from all three shifts took the course, said Hoover Fire Department Executive Officer Rusty Lowe, and anyone who missed the course will have the opportunity to retake it at a later date. Those who attended the course will also pass along the information they have learned, he said.
Lowe said Hoover brought in the training because the number of individuals diagnosed with autism is rising, and this course is a way for the department to better serve the city of Hoover.
“We felt that this was some great training that we could get for our men and women and better prepare them to handle a situation that might involve an autistic individual,” Lowe said. “This has been a great experience for our guys to hear from an individual who is not only a firefighter and a lieutenant within the fire system in Birmingham, but he also knows firsthand by having an autistic child himself.”
Firefighters in the Birmingham area, as well as in Pelham, Vestavia Hills and now Hoover, have taken Martin’s course, titled Autism Awareness for First Responders.
“Every city that I go to and teach this training, I feel more and more comfortable with us getting that information out there,” he said.
