A Lakehead University researcher is getting over $49,000 from a national organization to study the mental health of firefighters working during COVID-19.
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research provided Dr. Kathryn Sinden with the rapid response grant to spend six months developing resources to support the mental health of firefighters working during the pandemic.
Sinden says firefighters are often “first-on-scene” and have a higher change of being exposed to transferable diseases like the coronavirus.
“Researchers have found that in periods of heightened risk such as a pandemic, there are further impacts on individuals’ mental health,” Sinden said.
“For example, following the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak in 2003, front-line workers identified this event as traumatic and those who had higher risk for SARS exposure reported more post-traumatic stress injury symptoms than other workers,” Sinden said.
