New Public Safety Foundation Formed To Assist Our Local Heroes
GULF SHORES Ala.
By Dale Hines
BlueRAMMedia.com
February 23, 2025
A new non-profit foundation has been formed in Baldwin County with just one goal.
Aid and assist our public safety heroes.
Richard (Rick) McCann, himself a forty -year plus public safety employee, started his career shortly after coming back from the Army in 1977.
Rick has worked in just about every area of serving the public that one can, including law enforcement, the fire service, EMS, the Chapliancy.
He continues to serve in these areas as well as being an educator in public safety for several colleges and a police academy.
There are three areas of aid and assistance that the Gulf Coast Heroes Foundation will focus on.
First and foremost, Wellness.
Police officers, firefighters, EMTs, paramedics, and 911 dispatchers often struggle with many life issues.
Some struggle just to put food on the table for their families or not being able to pay their household bills.
Others have substance abuse struggles, mental health issues, and depression that have all been linked back to their jobs.
Suicides among law enforcement have been on a steep rise during the past ten years and officers almost always suffer in silence until they reach the breaking point.
Most people will never know, much less understand, what public safety employees see and are faced with on an all too frequent basis.
The second area will be assistance to those who have been injured on the job.
While some injuries are minor and the employee returns to work the next day, others may be out of work for weeks or months.
Whether the injured employee is married or single, some chores, errands or even providing food for themselves may, in itself be quite the task.
The foundation will gladly lighten the burdens and fulfill some of these tasks while the injured person recuperates.
Sadly, our heroes sometimes lose their lives protecting us.
In the past two days, two police officers were murdered in Virginia Beach conducting a traffic stop and a third officer was killed responding to an incident at a hospital in York Pennsylvania.
Firefighters, EMS, and law enforcement are all prone to injuries and deaths far more than most other professions.
In recent years, along the Gulf Coast, at least four police officers gave their lives while protecting others including:
In June 2021, Baldwin County Sheriff Deputy Bill Smith died from an accidental drowning after attempting to save a teenager who was in distress in the Gulf of Mexico.
In August 2022, Mount Vernon police officer Ivan Lopez was killed in Summerdale in a duty-related motor vehicle accident.
Mobile Police Corporal Matthew Thompson was killed on February 11, 2004, while assisting officers with a traffic accident on Springhill Avenue. A vehicle traveling westbound on Springhill Avenue struck Corporal Thompson.
In May 2023, Alabama Port Police Officer Kimberly Sickafoose died when he patrol vehicle slid into the Mobile River and she drowned.
Firefighters in Mobile and Baldwin Counties have also been injured in recent years while fighting fires though there have been no recent on-duty deaths reported.
The Gulf Coast Heroes Foundation, a 501 (c) (3) Non-Profit will assist families during these tragic times with financial assistance and other in-kind methods.
A new website will be released in the upcoming weeks and an announcement of board members will also be made public as well.
For more information, please call 251-609.4003.
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