Up Close: Gary Myers

By Charity Corkey

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Loudoun County Fire-Rescue volunteer Chaplain Gary Myers has been present or on call for a host of incidents since 2001, from suicide attempts, accident entrapments and cardiac arrests, to funerals and weddings.

Myers regularly dedicates 10 hours a week to assisting and ministering to the people of Loudoun, and recently received the Industrial and Commercial Ministries Northern Virginia Chaplain of the Year Award.

Originally from Southern California, Myers worked as a law enforcement officer in the state before accepting a position with the New Mexico State Mounted Patrol in Albuquerque.

Myers, 49, moved to Loudoun County 10 years ago and is currently living in Ashburn. He has two children, 18 and 20, who reside in the area, and a step-daughter, 28, who lives in Chicago. Myers' wife passed away in 2006 after a battle with cancer.

In this e-mail interview, Myers shared with us memorable emergency situations he has responded to and his thoughts on ministering to those affected by calamities.

Q: How many years have you been a chaplain for the Loudoun County Fire-Rescue Station 6 in Ashburn?

A: My wife and I actually were a husband and wife chaplain team, since the early 1990s, but we started in Ashburn shortly before Sept. 11, 2001. We ran calls together until cancer made it difficult for her to continue to respond to calls in mid-2005. She passed away in early 2006, and I continued on.

Photo: Charity Corkey

Gary Myers dedicates about 10 hours a week to volunteering as the chaplain for Loudoun County Fire-Rescue in Ashburn. He recently received the Industrial and Commercial Ministries Northern Virginia Chaplain of the Year Award.

Q: What do the duties of a fire-rescue chaplain entail?

A: Be available when the time comes to go out and meet, sit with, talk to and pray with (as desired) the neighbors in our community who may be victims of, or witnesses to, a medical emergency or serious car accident.

This includes all public safety (police/fire/rescue) professionals, both career and volunteer. I respond to an emergency location, a home or workplace, an emergency room or hospital room. I perform funeral services for families who ... do not have a church they regularly attend. I have also performed funeral services for fallen fire fighters, and more joyfully, weddings for them as well. We actually become close like "family."

Q: Looking back on the different emergency situations you have responded to, which sticks out the most in your memory?

A: I recognize that life is fragile, unpredictable, and many times, unappreciated by people. Seeing people grieve is what sticks out most in my mind as being difficult to forget.

-- Suicides - All of them stick with me - teenagers, spouses, grandparents - whether they are by gunshots, hanging, pills or exhaust fumes. People don't realize that it is a permanent result for something that usually is so able to be fixed. On Valentines Day, 2006, I buried my wife who wanted to live, then later that evening, I responded to a call where a healthy young woman took her life, simply because she did not want to live any longer. Personally, I will always remember that day and trying to make sense of the differences between those events.

-- A man who was eating dinner with his pregnant wife, talking about the future, when in one motion, she just leaned over and fell to the ground. Medics arrived, and she was not able to be resuscitated. The husband, sitting with a 2-year-old said, 'I have lost two of my family tonight, now what am I going to do?'

-- A man talking to his wife on a cell phone coming home from work one evening was struck by a large truck and was killed instantly. Later, I went to his home with the state police to notify his family and was met by his elderly wife. She had wondered why they were disconnected. They had just sold their house; the movers were coming the next day to move them to another state to be by their kids and grandkids.

-- A motor vehicle accident on Rt. 7 by Belmont Ridge several years back, where a large box truck ran into a semi-dump truck with a sand spreader on the back of it. It crushed the cab and killed the driver. I remember seeing his face as he was trapped in the cab to this very day. I also remember the "miracle man" passenger who survived, trapped in the truck as fire fighters worked relentlessly for four hours to cut him out, in 18-degree icy weather, and IV lines froze. He lived and came to visit us months later to say hello .… That was truly a miracle.

Q: Why did you decide to volunteer your time in this way?

A: I want to help and encourage people. I have been a Christian many years of my life. When I became a police officer in California, I worked with other officers who wanted someone to talk with, but didn't feel they could go to their department counselors and have it remain confidential. They felt comfortable talking with me, and because I did the job alongside of them as well, that provided credibility.

In New Mexico, in one year, in different parts of the state, several officers committed suicide because they had no one they felt understood their challenges. This is when I really knew that I could be of some help. My wife and I teamed up to provide support to anyone who would call us, her for the wives and kids of police officers, and I was there for the officers themselves.

When we came to Virginia, the chaplain program rested with the Fire and Rescue Department. My wife saw an advertisement in the paper for Ashburn Fire-Rescue, which said that two chaplains had retired and/or moved away. We answered the call.

Chaplains are associated with death, and that's too bad. What we do is not about death, it's about life … physically, emotionally and spiritually, and being that trusted friend who can help encourage and stand by you in all things.

Some may call us religious, and not want to talk with us, and that's too bad as well. Case in point, I sprained my ankle going down the stairs, and when I was in the emergency room getting x-rays, Chaplain Brian Wells was there to simply sit with me. This was a great comfort! Now, I do not consider myself a religious man, simply a man that has been sustained and blessed by God. My motto has become, "it's not what great faith we have, it's what a great God we have," because when we realize that, any burden becomes light, and he has been proven to work things out.

Q: What kind of training is required for chaplains in fire-rescue stations?

A: Industrial Commercial Ministries has a course that Loudoun County chaplains attend, with additional training being offered. One must be a licensed or ordained minister and a field training observation program is required. I personally have been trained as an EMT to understand what is taking place on a scene. I have a law enforcement background so I know what investigations must take place and why and the need to keep a location controlled and secure, and I have been involved in numerous critical incident debriefings and employee assistance situations.

Q: How do you prepare for facing the death or serious injury of a person? What is your method for ministering to the families affected by such calamities?

A: I don't know how one ever really prepares. Each situation is different, based on the circumstance and person you talk to. I believe that I can relate to them by my own experience, as I personally experienced my wife and best friend being sick, being whisked away to the emergency room, hearing the diagnosis, talking about options, sitting alone in a waiting room when surgeries were performed, appreciating visitors who came to encourage us and friends pulling me off to the side to be sure I was holding up OK.

I had been there on the supporting end long before I was on the receiving end, but it verified how important this function is. Seeing people grieve and not being able to take that burden from them - to help make it lighter for them - that is the difficult part for me, the part I take home after the call and the silence sets in and I reflect. That's when I go in prayer on their behalf.

Q: How often do you receive emergency calls?

A: It varies based on the need. It could [be] as little as no calls per week, to seven calls per week. When I do respond to a call, it can last between two to nine hours.

Q: How does your family react when you respond to calls?

A: My kids and friends are great about it, though sometimes it interferes with plans we may have made. They understand, though, what it means to me and those I go to see. It is their way of supporting me.

Q: Tell us about your job at the Department of Homeland Security. How do you balance your family life with work at DHS and volunteering as a chaplain?

A: I manage two national human resource programs at headquarters in D.C. and work with great professionals there. Home life and work are both equally important to me for the obvious reasons, and the rest is for my community. On occasion to unwind, I like to take my chaplain cruiser out to car events or shows to support local charities and let people know chaplains are here, what we do and how we can help.

Q: What do you appreciate most about living in Loudoun County?

A: It's a clean, family environment. It feels comfortable like a home should. I love seeing families walking the dogs and kids, eating, going to movies, seeing people I ride on the commuter bus with, who I have met on calls, in churches while I am running around town - those are priceless moments for me.

Q: Tell us something about yourself that might surprise your colleagues and friends at the fire-rescue station.

A: I love you guys!!! It may not be the manliest thing to say, but I mean it.

Tagged: Ashburn, Ashburn Fire and Rescue, entertainment, Loudoun County Fire/Rescue, Up Close

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