Journal Inquirer.
WALLINGFORD, Conn. 鈥� Fire and police personnel have another tool to help them respond to calls involving people with special needs, especially autism.
A new partnership between Wallingford鈥檚 emergency service departments and the Linked Autism Safety Project allows residents to voluntarily register in the town鈥檚 Special Needs Alert System for free.
Caregivers fill out a form detailing information about the autistic individual, including medical diagnosis, communication ability, what they鈥檙e sensitive to, dislikes and other relevant information. The information, which would remain confidential, allows first responders to create a pre-arrival plan to know how to approach and interact with the person in the event they need to respond to the home.
Fire Chief James Buck said the program helps them serve the community better.
鈥淚n emergency services, we look at the way we approach an emergency incident, and historically have done that through one lens,鈥� Buck said. 鈥淎nd by partnering with Linked Autism, it gives us an opportunity to see things through a different perspective and make sure we have the training we need to reach everybody at a time of an emergency.鈥�
People can register online on the police department鈥檚 website or in person at the fire or police headquarters. Registered families also receive a family emergency planning folder that offers instructions and tips for how to navigate the program during an emergency response call.
First responders also have their own tools to use during such calls. Sensory packs are included in every vehicle and contain stimulating toys and items to help them when interacting with those with specialized needs. There鈥檚 also an Emergency Picture Exchange Communication System, which is a picture display tool that鈥檚 used to communicate with non-verbal residents.
Buck, helped implement the program in Stratford where he was deputy chief. He decided to bring it to Wallingford after experiencing its effectiveness in Stratford.
Buck said the program was key to breaking through communication barriers to be able to serve all Wallingford residents.
He said, given the sort of situations that require the intervention of both firefighters and police officers, it鈥檚 typically stressful for everyone involved. He said it鈥檚 important to be able to clearly communicate with people with autism or other special needs to ensure their health and safety.
鈥淭his enabled an opportunity to break the ice,鈥� Buck said. 鈥淲hat you鈥檒l see is our firefighters and our EMTs, especially if you鈥檙e dealing with an autistic child, we鈥檒l take our helmet off, we鈥檒l get down on one knee to get an equal footing with the child and really try to ensure that they are not in any way intimidated or feel further pressure in those emergency situations.鈥�
The program鈥檚 implementation comes after a year of work between Linked Autism and the town鈥檚 emergency service departments, along with the Hometown Foundation, which provided the funding for the stimulation toys and other resources.
Linked Autism is a nationally recognized organization founded in North Branford by resident Ashley McClain two years ago. It started after McClain approached the local police department to inform them about her son鈥檚 diagnosis with autism and how they should interact with him if there was ever a need.
North Branford Police Chief James Lovelace told McClain she had a really good idea that could be implemented on a wider scale across other departments.
She said she didn鈥檛 think much of it at the time, but shortly after launching the program in her community, Beacon Falls and Watertown鈥檚 police departments reached out looking to bring it to their towns. Since then the initiative has spread even outside of Connecticut, including departments in Illinois.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really about having collaborative conversations with community partners, allowing them to understand our community, us understanding their community, and really working to be resources with one another,鈥� McClain said.
She said Wallingford had been a pleasure to work with, as the officers and firefighters engaged in genuine conversation during their workshops.
鈥淚 was getting a lot of feedback from the first responders, I was hearing their insight as well too,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to be able to have conversations with police and fire at the same time to understand their roles, their obligations and how to understand their roles, how we can navigate that as special needs families to make sure that the conversations that we鈥檙e having with them are supportive of the work that they do.鈥�
McClain added it was important to open the dialogue and community conversations around those with autism. She expressed surprise that her efforts have grown so much over a short period of time, planning to take part in a press conference at the state capitol in Hartford with the Police Chiefs Association and Fire Chiefs Association this week to discuss building more resources for those with special needs.
She said there still aren鈥檛 enough resources for first responders to interact with people with special needs. But in recent years police and fire departments have been working to adopt new technologies and programs as part of an effort to embrace innovative ways to approach their field.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really this collaborative effort with other organizations, with community partners, with police and fire and EMS that have really been kind of the driving force behind this,鈥� McClain said. 鈥淎nd as. not the director of this program, but as a special needs mom, it makes my heart really happy.鈥�
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