Manley, Avelar, Cappel Meet with Area Fire Chiefs

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – In preparation of the upcoming legislative session, state Rep. Natalie Manley, D-Joliet, along with state Rep. Dagmara “Dee” Avelar, D-Bolingbrook, and state Sen. Meg Loughran Cappel, D-Shorewood, met with the fire chiefs and deputy chiefs from Plainfield, Bolingbrook and Joliet.

Joliet Fire Chief Jeff Carey, Bolingbrook Fire Chief Chris Jostes and Plainfield Deputy Fire Chiefs Mark Reynolds and Charles Kraft met the legislators at the Romeoville Village Hall Community Room. 

In general, the group discussed numerous challenges facing the area fire departments, along with possible legislative solutions.

“Meeting with community leaders, like the fire chiefs, on a regular basis keeps us, legislators, informed, so that we may better help them in Springfield,” Rep. Manley said.

More specifically, discussions included the rising number of lift assist calls, which happen when people slip out of the chairs, but are not injured, such as elderly in assisted living. These types of non-emergency calls cause conflict with true 9-1-1 emergency situations.

Other discussion centered around mental health services that can be served by full-time social workers. In one example, legislators heard of a single person who called the fire department 150 times in a single year. The addition of a social worker to that department reduced that person’s calls to once the following year, due to the social worker proactively reaching out to that individual on a regular basis.

Another benefit of full-time social workers working with fire departments is that they can better navigate matching correct services to each situation, ultimately removing wasteful calls to emergency services.

“I’m grateful for the time these fire chiefs and deputy chiefs took out of their schedule to meet with us,” Rep. Manley said. “As we move forward through our legislative season, I’m better prepared to help find legislative solutions.”