Today, for the second consecutive year, we received a grant from the Steinberg Law Firm in Goose Creek to support our “Operation Zzz” weighted blanket program. These blankets are provided for our firefighters, EMS personnel, 911 Telecommunicators, and Law Enforcement officers who suffer from anxiety or PTSD. In addition to full-size blankets to aid sleep, we furnish a smaller lap-size blanket to our 911 Telecommunicators to use when handling stressful calls while on duty. We also provide our Team clinicians with the lap-size blankets to be used by those who seek counseling and may be experiencing anxiety during their therapy sessions.
This program began for us back in March of 2017. We realized that many emergency services personnel we were assisting reported sleep problems as a first sign they needed to seek help. We did some research and found that these blankets may aid in a person getting better rest. We decided on the peer team level to start providing the blankets to improve a person’s sleep with a hope that it would help them. We have provided nearly 135 blankets, lap and full-size combined, sewn by Marci-Jo Mishoe of the Lowcountry Fire Wives and Stacy Green of Charleston County EMS. We have received many written positive testimonials from those using them.
We pledge to all of you to continue to “think outside the box” in finding resources and methods to give you the best care we can. In addition to the Steinberg Law Firm, we support this program with donations from those who receive them as well as others in the community.
We are very appreciative of the Steinberg Law Firm and their commitment to our Team and to our emergency services personnel who benefit from these blankets.
Pictured here receiving our $ 2,500.00 grant check on Monday are Gerald Mishoe, our Executive Director, Attorney David Pearlman, Marci-Jo Mishoe, our blanket maker extraordinaire, David Reindollar, our Team Leader, and Attorney Michael Jordan, of the Steinberg firm.