Where did it all start?
In the 1970’s, an TV-reporter by the name of Ken Gaydos saw the tremendous need for a support structure for the staff of Emergency Services in the USA.
As he had been reporting on accident scenes, he noticed that no support was available to those who are the helpers in those crisis times.
He approached the Fire Chief of Seattle, who approved the Chaplain Service to his department, which also resulted in the formation of “International Chaplains’ Ministry”, of which Ken Gaydos remains the Custodian as per today.
The South African Fire Services Institute, under the then President Simon Barkhuizen from the Germiston Fire Department invited Ken Gaydos during 1989 / 1990 to address the congress regarding the Chaplaincy.
It was also expressed that any kind of Chaplaincy in South Africa would also be utilized to assist traumatised patients and members of the public, besides the role that the Chaplain would play within the Department itself.
The then Fire Chiefs of Boksburg (Nick Swanepoel); Germiston (Simon Barkhuizen); Johannesburg (Alan Cloete); and Roodepoort (Ronnie Cloete) decided to start Chaplain Services within their departments.
The Rev. Claude Kidwell became the first Chaplain to assist the old Johannesburg Fire Department during 1990, with a few more Chaplains joining during the years that lay ahead.
It must however be noted that all these Chaplains, like the situation is today, serve on a volunteer, non-paid basis.
In 1995, the Rev. Frank Meulenbeld joined both Roodepoort and Johannesburg Fire Departments as South Africa’s first full-time but volunteer Chaplain.
Subsequently, more Chaplains joined in other departments as well, like Nigel, Pretoria and Springs.
On the 1st of May 1996 the various Chaplains met for the first Chaplain “Break-away” to have fellowship together, and to discuss the past year as well as the road ahead.
As the Chaplains realized the uniqueness of all the local authorities, including their local Emergency Services, the Emergency Services Chaplaincy (Southern Africa) was formed officially on the 1st of May 1996, to regulate, train, register, and give direction to Chaplains working with their local Emergency Services departments.
This organisation has grown from the original 8 founder Chaplains to over 400 as per date, with Chaplains appointed within all cities within the Gauteng province, and with Chaplains in every province of this country, including Chaplains trained for the Kingdom of Swaziland.
The Emergency Services Chaplaincy (Southern Africa) is registered with the Department of Social Development as a Non-Profit Organisation, as well as a Public Benefit Organisation.
Over the years, Chaplains have always been appointed, both on a paid and on a volunteer basis, within the national government departments of Police, Defence, and Correctional Services.
Today, other uniformed services like Ambulance, Fire, Rescue, Police, Traffic, Metro Police, Security firms and private medical companies also make use of the Chaplain services provided by the Emergency Services Chaplaincy (Southern Africa).
The Chaplain is a person who is first and foremost there to help and assist the uniformed services staff member.
One of the important factors that need to be taken into account is the above average suicide rate, divorce rate, drug & alcohol dependency rate amongst Emergency Services personnel.
One of the main factors is “Critical Incident Stress” or “Post Traumatic Stress” which was not recognised as a real problem until 1995.
Critical Incident Stress (CIS), which can either be seen at the scene, or at a later stage, is indeed a larger problem then what some departments want to admit.
With studies done by others, and myself, particularly within the “old” Johannesburg Ambulance Department, about 89% of paramedics / AEA’s have shown signs of CIS.
The Chaplaincy, as part of its training, teaches prospective Chaplains the signs and symptoms of CIS and also teaches the skills for the CIS-debriefing, also known as “Emergency Trauma Reduction”.
It must be noted, that the Johannesburg Fire Department staff suicide rate dropped dramatically as the Chaplain Service was introduced.
Besides assisting with CIS, the Chaplain is also there to provide other type of counsel to staff, like marriage, to visit hospitalised members of staff, to provide wedding services, (Brigade) funerals, HIV /AIDS counselling.
Where possible, the Chaplain can also be used for training sessions, as to inform members of staff regarding issues like CIS.
The Chaplain also provides a service to the larger community, by providing an on-the-scene counsellor, to assist bereaving families with immediate crisis support, to assist with hostage negotiation situations, to deliver death notifications, after fatal car accidents, as well as by assisting the paramedics during “resus” by taking the family members out-of-sight of such scenes, and provide counsel to such traumatized families.
The Trauma Teddy project has also been successfully implemented by providing traumatized children with their own fluffy toy during their time of trauma / crisis.
Security firms utilize Chaplains as well by sending Chaplains to armed robberies, hijackings, shootings, etc. to provide an immediate on-the-scene person who can assist the traumatized people with counsel and support.
Chaplains also provide a major role during times of disaster, by having networking or referral organisations available to assist with clothing, blankets, lodging, etc for the victims of such disasters. During times of major structural fires, Chaplains arrange support for the EMS-staff, by providing them with hot and / or cold drinks, and meals / snacks.
The Chaplaincy also has a “Support Unit” which is available to assist countrywide for any kind of call-outs / crisis situations. Aircraft accidents are also handled by the Chaplaincy, with respect to on-the-scene counselling and to provide death notifications.
Over the past years a change in approach has been seen i.r.o. the Chaplain service.
Initially, Fire Departments in the larger cities appointed Chaplains as part of their volunteer staff, and issued them with their departmental uniform, wearing unique Chaplain insignia.
However, as smaller Fire Departments in KwaZulu-Natal wanted to appoint Chaplains, it was noted that their municipal by-laws did not make provision for any kind of volunteer / reservist staff, and as other uniformed services inquired about utilizing Chaplains, the national body realized that an independent Chaplain uniform be designed, which all formally registered Chaplains would be able to wear.
This resulted in situations, particularly in the smaller towns, where the Chaplaincy would offer their services to all uniformed services, without being formally attached to only the local Fire Department.
The Vryheid Chaplaincy, under the leadership of the then Regional Chief Chaplain, Rev. Jannie Viljoen, in KwaZulu-Natal was the first example of this type of Chaplain structure, with much success.
It was also decided, due to the massive growth that the national body experienced since 1998, to divide the country into Chaplain Regions, who would run the Chaplain Service within that community, and would make themselves available to provide a Chaplain service to all the various uniformed departments and the community at large.
This has also been successfully implemented, and our motto has become that “we do not work FOR any department, but we work WITH any department”.
Of course, any department still appointing its own departmental Chaplains are free to do so, even though we do kindly ask to only use Chaplains who have done the official Emergency Services Chaplaincy (Southern Africa) training course, and who are formally registered with the national body. This protects both the Chaplain Service in general, as well as the department concerned.
The Chaplaincy always endeavours to work closely with particularly the Emergency Services Chief of a specific town / district; and to then recruit possible candidates for the Chaplaincy.
A training course is then taught in that community, and those who have completed this course can then join the national Chaplain ministry and they would be allowed to wear the insignia of the Chaplaincy, as these insignia are all registered “trademarks”.
As all Chaplains work on a free and volunteer basis, it is up to the local departments if they do want to assist the Chaplaincy on a financial basis or by providing office space and / or the use of official vehicles.
Statistics of the Johannesburg Region of Emergency Services Chaplaincy (Southern Africa) indicate that annually more then 2500 calls are attended to by Chaplains to render a service to both the staff of the various uniformed services (CoJ EMS; JMPD; SAPS; NETCARE911; ER24; security firms) and the community within the City of Johannesburg municipal boundaries.
Due to the fact that the Johannesburg Metro Police is calling Chaplains to all major and fatal road accidents, the amount of MVA / PVA as well as death notifications has risen sharply, with at least 14 death notifications per month since January 2003.
Since 2005, the Chaplaincy has made a promotional DVD available for all interested parties, and we recently completed our own updated training DVD, utilizing local actors and Chaplains, to make our training more relevant to local conditions.
We are looking forward to have Chaplains within every community of South and Southern Africa within the foreseeable future, DV, to be able to assist all those in need during trauma and crisis – and those who help those in need!
“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord
is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has
sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and
release for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour and the
day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who morn.” Isaiah
61:1-3 (NIV)