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| Safe Call Now® Peer Advocate Eddie Patterson (Ret.) NYPD |
I grew up in Queens, New York, one of the five boroughs of
NYC. My dad was a WWII vet that told me to take every civil service exam that
was offered. After starting college I thought of joining the service which I
was about to do when I got a call from the NYC Police Dept. I was sworn into
the department in January 1982.
As I
said I grew up right outside of the city so of course my first command was in
uptown Manhattan, and to be honest I really wasn’t prepared for what I would
see as a young twenty-something kid, and this is why I have so much respect for
our veterans. I learned fast that I
would see people shot, stabbed, a thirteen year old girl jump to her death and
of course September 11th. During
these many years I also lost close friends, very close friends to suicide. One
other important fact I left out was that during these years I would drink to
forget what I witnessed.
Jump a head years later and I realized I wanted to give back
to the men and women that are still out there: cops, firemen, corrections
officers, and our dispatchers. I began to volunteer at a local organization for
NYPD cops and became involved with a local crisis center on their Suicide
Hotline. When I was introduced to Sean I knew that I wanted to be part of this
organization. When Sean tells me I’m “on
the phones” I know that going forward I may get a call from anywhere in the
country, any agency, and at any time of the day or night.
The call may be from
a first responder that just wants to talk a bit, or maybe from someone that is
having a hard time with substance abuse. I’ll be honest I feel comfortable
handling anything that comes my way. There
is always the chance that you will get the call from a first responder that
feels this is his or her last call, the call that if you can’t convince them
that their life is worth living well then that may very well be their last
call.
I recently had a call from a retired LEO that was going
through some hard times, mostly PTSD for many years. He was a real nice guy
that about three or four minutes into the call I asked him if he was thinking
of talking his life. His answer was simple and to the point, “Ed I’ve thought
of it many times before but never more than today.” We talked about the positives in his life and
how much his grandkids mean to him. After
about thirty minutes he told me he felt better and was going home to his
family.
Calls like that are what any first
responder will get with Safe Call Now®. The guys
and gals that volunteer on the phones get what the responder is going through. It doesn’t matter where you work or what
department or agency, make the call if you need to talk.
