AUGUSTA – A bill sponsored by Rep. Sue Salisbury, D-Westbrook, which would expand patient confidentiality to emergency responders engaging in critical incident stress management peer support groups, received unanimous support from the Legislature’s Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee on May 1.
“The implementation of critical incident stress management peer support groups has genuinely been lifesaving for some of our emergency responders,” said Salisbury. “The ability to sit with colleagues and talk about an incident allows for the acknowledgement that, first and foremost, something very stressful has happened. This is the first step towards healing, and there is no reason that the contents of these groups should not be confidential. We owe our emergency responders that privacy.”
Emergency responders often deal with traumatic incidents involving serious injury or death, and critical incident stress management peer support groups were formed to help emergency responders process these traumatic events. LD 882 would ensure that the communications within these groups are confidential, so emergency responders have an opportunity to be vulnerable about their mental wellbeing without worrying that what they disclosed will be shared elsewhere.
The bill will face votes before the entire House and Senate in the coming weeks.
Rep. Sue Salisbury, D-Westbrook, is serving her third term in the Maine House of Representatives serving House District 128, which includes part of Westbrook. She serves as the House chair of the State and Local Government Committee.