Kemp signs new law that will help Georgia first responders pay for PTSD treatment
Previously, first responders had to get physically hurt on the job in order to receive benefits for treatment
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - It doesn’t matter which granite column it’s on, when Gwinnett Police Sgt. Ashley Wilson sees her partner’s name etched on a memorial, she thinks about what was lost.
“A lifetime of love and memories and laughs, down to a name on a column,” Wilson said looking at Antwan Toney’s name on the fallen officer’s memorial at the Georgia State Patrol Training Center. “It just takes your breath away.”
On a call of a suspicious car in 2018, Toney was fatally shot by a suspect and died in Wilson’s arms. It kicked off a long battle with post-traumatic stress disorder for Wilson — nightmares, flashbacks. And on top of it all, crippling debt trying to get the treatment she needed.
She wasn’t physically hurt that day, so neither the department nor the state could provide any funds for her recovery from what some refer to as an invisible injury.
“At that point, I would do anything just to close my eyes and not see him die over and over and over again,” Wilson told Atlanta News First during an interview in November 2023.
On Wednesday, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed HB 451 into law. The new law, which is named after Wilson for the years she put in raising awareness and support, will fill the funding gap for people in her position.
The law mandates that cities, counties and all public entities offer supplemental illness-specific insurance for first responders clinically diagnosed with PTSD from exposure to traumatic events in the line of duty. It’s only $100 per year, per first responder — a price tag that Wilson says is well worth it.
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“It eliminates the choice that so many first responders were going to have to make as to whether they’re going to make their house payment or they’re going to get lifesaving mental health care,” she said.
The law couldn’t have come any sooner. Wilson said first responder suicides are outpacing the number of deaths in the line of duty. A stark statistic that proves the necessity for mental health treatment and the funds to help cover it.
Wilson said healthier officers, firefighters and emergency medical workers lead to healthier communities. A rise in mental health awareness and treatment leads to less use of force instances and less overall complaints to departments.
It also gives first responders the help they need to help others.
“I think about all the first responders who are sitting, looking at the bottom of a bottle or looking down the barrel of a gun and have no hope to know that there is hope out there, there are so many people that support them and care about them and now we really have a way forward for them,” said Wilson.
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