![\"Four](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2026\/06\/firefighters300x200-20260526_TCF_IMC_6203.jpg\")
Sindhu, who studies ways to help people manage physical pain and stress, wondered how he could help. He and his team reached out to nine fire departments across the region, in urban, suburban and rural areas, surveying fire department employees to understand the mental and emotional challenges of their work and the supports currently available to them.<\/p>\n
They offered emergency medical services providers a phone app that allowed them to choose short, stress-relieving activities such as breathing techniques, walking and mindfulness practices. Sindhu and his team asked participants to complete these activities a few times a week for eight weeks. They also collected data about their blood pressure and heart rate.<\/p>\n
This was an early feasibility study to learn if firefighters would be willing to participate, and to determine if a larger study might be possible. \u201cOur participants generally liked the program and found the activities to be meaningful,\u201d Sindhu said. \u201cIt gave me a reason to think we need to continue to do this work.\u201d<\/p>\n
He and his team are currently writing about these preliminary findings for a forthcoming journal article and hope to obtain funding for future research.<\/p>\n
Lipski created a poster about her work assessing the mental health needs of fire department employees, which she presented at UWM\u2019s Undergraduate Research Symposium in April.<\/p>\n
The emotional demands of firefighting<\/h2>\n
Bella Lipski\u2019s father, Aaron Lipski, oversees nearly 800 firefighter-paramedics in the City of Milwaukee and said he is \u201cpainfully aware\u201d of the psychological demands of the job; multiple members of the department have died by suicide in recent years. He welcomes the chance to collaborate with Sindhu and his team.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to make sure that we\u2019re turning over every stone trying to find ways to manage this,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is another opportunity to get a fresh set of eyes on the problem, and having it research-based and data-based is important.\u201d<\/p>\n A UWM alum who graduated in 2002 with a bachelor\u2019s degree in communication and a Master of Public Administration degree in 2014, Aaron Lipski noted that the emergencies firefighters must address have grown increasingly disturbing over the course of his career. These include opioid overdose deaths, shootings and crashes related to reckless driving.<\/p>\n \u201cI would put our firefighters and paramedics on par with wartime medics right now,\u201d he said. And city firefighters \u201csee growing demand for service for increasingly complex emergencies year over year,\u201d he added. Repeated exposure to these events can take a toll on mental health.<\/p>\n \u201cWe’re starting to turn the culture a little bit, where it’s all right to at least discuss these things and to acknowledge that, hey, maybe we need some help,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Those conversations usually take place at the fire station with colleagues. Most firefighters don\u2019t share these details at home because they don\u2019t want to upset loved ones, he added.<\/p>\n But Lipski is moved that his daughter got involved in this research. \u201cWatching Bella engage on an issue to which I am so personally and professionally attached causes a level of pride I could never have imagined,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Bella Lipski graduated in May with her bachelor\u2019s degree in occupational science and technology. She returned to UWM in June to begin working toward a master\u2019s degree in occupational therapy.<\/p>\n Working on this project was eye-opening for her, giving her new understanding of the challenges faced by firefighters, including those in her family.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously I know this is a hard job and that there are a lot of scary things that they’re seeing,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I don’t think I ever really sat and thought, \u2018How does that affect a person?\u2019 I\u2019m more aware of it now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Graduating UWM student \u2013 whose dad is the Milwaukee fire chief \u2013 finds rewards in contributing to research that aims to manage the intense stress emergency medical responders face. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3151,"featured_media":157052,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174,175],"tags":[],"section":[135],"display_categories":[352,116],"related-coverage":[284],"uwmnews-feed":[167,343,158,153,345],"class_list":["post-157033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-research","section-health","display_categories-top-story-tertiary","display_categories-top-story-section","related-coverage-health-wellness","uwmnews-feed-alumni-association","uwmnews-feed-health-professions-sciences","uwmnews-feed-letters-science","uwmnews-feed-graduate","uwmnews-feed-rehabilitation-sciences-technology"],"uwm_unpublish_requested":false,"yoast_head":"\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2026\/06\/Wilson_RW-Headshot-2024-08-23-250x300-1.jpg\")
![\"A](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2026\/06\/Riccardo-Colella250x300.jpg\")
Learning from hands-on research<\/h2>\n