Footscray firefighter Gregor Bush is gearing up for the ninth annual Melbourne Firefighter Stair Climb.
He will join about 600 other volunteers and paid professionals climbing up the Crown Metropol Hotel on Saturday, September 10 to raise funds for Lifeline, Fortem and the 000 Foundation to fund research, remove stigmas and raise awareness of mental health issues like depression, post traumatic stress disorder and suicide within emergency services.
Mr Bush said he had been working hard on the stair climber machine at his local gym with a 15 kilogram weight.
“I had hoped to undertake this challenge the past two years, but unfortunately covid restrictions meant we were unable to participate,” he said.
Mr Bush said he hoped he could reach his $1000 fundraising goal to contribute to an ongoing conversation around the importance about talking openly about mental health issues.
“Firefighters, like many emergency services, are regularly exposed to challenging or confronting scenes.
“To me, the most valuable support service is the culture they’ve developed: a culture of checking in on your crew and asking if they’re OK.
“If we could normalise these conversations, I think it would do a lot of good.”
Details: www.firefighterclimb.org.au/climber/gregorbush
Matthew Sims
