Latest / Our Community, Our Mission / Ep #300 – Responding with Dignity: Meet Fire Chief Chad Longstaff

Transcript

Ep #300 – Responding with Dignity: Meet Fire Chief Chad Longstaff · Our Community, Our Mission

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: Heavenly Father, thank you.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for this wonderful weather that we've been having lately.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for this opportunity to come together to talk about exciting things going on in Topeka.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_02: Lord, we are just so thankful for all of the blessings that you bring to TRM and to our community.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_02: And we are grateful for the partnerships that we have and look forward to hearing all about one specific partnership today.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_02: Let the people that need to hear all of the messages today be listening.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_02: Help their hearts be and minds be open to what you're saying to them specifically.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I pray all of this in Jesus' precious name.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_02: Amen.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_02: Amen.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_04: Hello, everybody.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you for joining us for our community, our mission, a podcast of the Topeka Rescue Mission here on the second uh podcast of the year 2026, on January 13th of 2026.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_04: I said that, didn't I?
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_04: All right.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, the 2026 podcast.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, I do.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_04: So I'm your host, Barry Fika.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_04: This is a a special day uh because the today marks the 300th podcast.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_04: Isn't that cool?
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_04: 300th podcast.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_04: If you look that up, and we've done one pretty much every week, it's over five and a half years since we started this podcast.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_04: Which, what I understand from podcast gurus, is that makes us one of the top in the nation as far as longevity.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_04: Really?
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_04: That's neat.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_04: Now, listenership, I'm not sure.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_04: But uh longevity, we just go quit.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_02: Well, but the listeners that we have, they are exceptional.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_04: They are exceptional.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, if you're listening to this, you are special.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_04: So we want to thank you for doing that.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_04: Uh Lamanda Cunningham, Mary Crable here today, as our usual.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_04: Um we have a very special guest here today that uh we want to hear from him.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_04: He's uh uh done so many things in the community and continues to do that.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_04: So we want to we want to talk to him in a minute.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_04: But before that, Research and Development Department has come up with these very important things about January the thirteenth.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_04: And then we want to talk a little bit about the number 300.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_04: So because uh, you know, next time we do this, it'll be 600.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_02: So Oh, very true.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_02: We go in three hundreds.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_02: And we may not be around to marry you and me anyway.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_04: Five and a half years.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know, Mary.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_04: I know about me about you.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_04: Anyway.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_04: So anyway.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_04: So Lamanda, uh, I know that this is something that's very important to you.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_04: It's National Sticker Day.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you grew up with stickers, little kid, with your books.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: Do you know what kind?
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: What was the most popular sticker when I grew up?
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_04: Uh for my daughters, uh-huh.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_04: It was little princess thingies uh ponies, ponies.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_04: That was it.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_04: Pretty pony.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: Well, right along that same line was Lisa Frank.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: Lisa Frank stickers.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: And so they were all brightly colored, and yes, some of them were ponies and rainbows, and then there were stars.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: But I had Lisa Frank, well, not everything I wanted because it was expensive.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: So my mom would limit me, but I did have a whole collection of Lisa Frank stickers.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: No, Miriam.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_02: No, yeah, don't even I mean, at this point, the only thing that was a sticker was a stamp.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_02: No, the only sticker I knew was a stamp.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_04: I know, I know.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_04: So uh so Lamanda, being a former educator, principal at schools, now at the rescue mission for a number of years now.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_04: Do kids still use stickers today?
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_04: You have kids.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_04: Uh-huh they still use stickers today.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_04: Even with all the tech stuff.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so there is electronic positive behavior reward systems, but you can't ever go wrong with a good sticker, a good stamp, but the stamp has to be a smelly stamp so the kids can smell it on their hand.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, spoiled.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to show you some um Lisa Frank.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, look at her.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, just for us that they go through.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: I was gonna say that we're gonna even do is fairies.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_04: All right, moving along.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_04: Moving along.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_04: Miriam, did you ever get a sticker when you were a kid?
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_02: I no.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe a star.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: I guess that was a sticker.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_02: Uh-huh.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_02: Miriam was always in trouble.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: She did not get a problem.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's kind of true.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't get stickers.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_03: I never got a sticker.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: I've heard about stories.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_02: You are fibby.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_02: You are big, fig, big, big fibby.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_02: Uh-huh.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_04: Well, moving along, it is national, national peach milba day.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_04: Peach Melba Day.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know about that.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_02: I've ever had a peach milba.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_04: It's a dessert.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_04: It's a dessert.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_02: It's um and it has ice cream and peaches and raspberry sauce.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_02: It sounds yummy.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think I've ever had one.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_04: So mm-hmm.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_04: So I don't know why we came up with this one because nobody's ever had one.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_04: But but anyway.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_02: But maybe Alec has.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_04: No.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_02: Because he's kind of a foodie.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_02: Nancy.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, Nancy.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_04: Nancy.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_04: Front desk.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_04: That makes sense.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_04: Anyway.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_04: Well, then one more for Lamanda.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_04: And maybe Miriam.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_04: It's National Rubber Ducky Day.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I looked down and I saw this, and I thought, okay, for the entire day, that song is going to run through my head.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_02: There's a total earworm with that rubber ducky thing.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_02: Oh.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_04: So so yeah, I guess that was on Sesame Street.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_04: Uh big birds sang the song.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_04: And um anyway, um, Merriam, did you ever have a rubber ducky?
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_02: Not as a kid.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_02: I got one in my office right now.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_04: That's how Aflack.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of age.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, I'm taking it today.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: Coming from the one that I'm pretty sure has a mega birthday in less than 30 days.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: He does.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_04: Moving along.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_04: Um talking about 300.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_04: So a few things about 300, and this comes from the research and development department.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_04: If you tuned in late, uh because this is our 300th podcast.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_04: Alex over here has been in broadcast media before.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_04: He's just laughing over here when I say tuned in late.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_04: How do you tune in late to a podcast?
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_04: You start at the beginning or you don't, right?
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_04: So uh some facts about the number 300.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_04: If you add all together the numbers from one to twenty-four, the answer is three hundred.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_02: I did not know that.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_04: I've never tried it.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_04: Probably won't.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_04: But anyway, no.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_04: 300 is the perfect score in 10 pin bowling.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_04: Now I knew that.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_04: Achieving by scoring 12 consecutive strikes.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_04: Have you ever done that?
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, sure.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_04: Lots of times.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: We sure we just did this as a uh team building uh uh activity and let me because I thought it would be a good thing to do, right?
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: And something completely different.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_04: You and bowling?
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, our leadership team, but we were so competitive and bad and bad.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: The first time no one scored over a hundred, and I was like, well, let's just have some snacks.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_04: So no uh no more of that.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, so winning 300 games is a mark of a very successful career of Major League Baseball.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, everybody knew that, right?
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_04: So only 24 pitchers in the history of baseball have won 300 or more games.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_04: So there's Chrysler, um, that car maker, um, has made several different models of cars with 300 in the name over the years, including the Chrysler 300 Letter Series, that was 1962 to 71, the Hearst 300, 1970, the Chrysler 300, 1979, and the Chrysler 300 M, 1999 to 2004, and the modern day Chrysler 300, which they just made last year.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_04: Now, why have they done that?
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_02: Last year.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_02: No, 2005.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_04: Uh yeah, right.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_04: Well, is that just a turned it around, didn't they?
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_04: Are they still making cars?
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_04: I I believe they're they okay.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_04: So that was 2005.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_04: I stand corrected, everybody, on this 300th podcast.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_04: First time I made a mistake.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I know.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_04: So anyway, why do you think they put 300 in all those?
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_02: I have no idea.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_02: Because it's a very common meaningful number.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, okay.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_04: So one more.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_04: Uh human beings are born with approximately how many bones?
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_02: 300.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_04: How did you know that?
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I think I actually knew that from being a nurse.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_04: So Miriam is our verifier of fixing 300 bones one time or another.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but look at what it says.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_02: Read the rest of it.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_02: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_04: When Miriam got older, her number of bones went down to 206.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, some of those bones naturally fuse together.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's actually a fact.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_04: So when you're born, you got 300 bones, but when you get older, it's called gravity, uh, they kind of atrophy or something or fuse together.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_02: Think of the bones in your head.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_04: Well, that's where most of mine are.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_04: You know I said it before you said it.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_02: I was gonna say that was so hard.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_02: That was like such a slow-pitched softball for me.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_02: I I avoided.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_04: So publicly speaking, this wraps it up here.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_04: Uh 300 cubits were involved in building an ark.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_04: Um and there were uh uh 300 denarii, um, the which were mentioned in the Bible, which is about a money.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_04: And then Gideon had 300 invincible soldiers.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_04: Um Sansom captured 300 foxes, and so the number 300 um is very popular.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_04: Um so Yeah, so today, so in Alec, so I hope that you go to the Guinness World Book of Records and mention us in there.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_04: And so next time January 13th comes around that uh on um our community, our mission, that the number of 300 is mentioned in regards to number of podcasts for Top Rescue Mission accomplished in about 5.7 years.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_02: Go ahead and fill out that application.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_04: All right.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, well, anyway.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_04: So our guest has stayed with us through all of this, which is really good.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_04: We appreciate that.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_04: But he's kind of a stay with it kind of guy.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_04: He is and so we are very honored to have the Topeka Fire Department Chief, Chad Longstaff, with us today.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_04: Chief, welcome to our community project.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_05: Thanks for having me.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_04: So, Chief, uh um when we say the word chief, um, that means you're the head guy.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but you've been involved with the Topeka Fire Department for a long time.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_05: Thirty-six years.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_05: Thirty-six years.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_05: Came on when I was twenty-four years old.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_05: What year was that?
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_05: That was 1989, 36 of 89.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, there we go.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_04: You kind of remember those, don't you?
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_04: That's probably your password for your bank account.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_04: So uh But anyway, Chief, you uh you served at various capacities for 36 years, and then you took a very brief retirement.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_04: Talk about why you came on uh Topeka Fire Department um and what some of the things that you accomplished over the years.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_05: Well, if you really want to tell the truth of probably back in my days we watched Emergency Squad 51.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_05: So, you know, yeah.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_05: Hope you become an expert.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_05: Oh yeah, yeah.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_05: And I still watch it today.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_04: Does it give you the kind of guidance for your job?
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_05: Well, yeah.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_05: Um so you know, I I I think I've always uh been a servant and um, you know, worried about other people, and I've always valued other people and what they thought and and who they were, and never tried to judge what I seen, but get to know them.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_05: And um because that's always been my passion of where people have come from and and what they've done through life, and and um and I kind of use that on my running my calls day to day, of just not going in there and slapping a BP cuff on somebody and uh just listening to them and kind of where they came from and who they are.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_05: And man, I gathered a lot of history of all the calls that I ran through the 36 years.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_04: Chief, we uh we think of the term probably most common as firefighter, and um I think that brings up in our mind you put out fires.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_04: It's so much more than that.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_04: Um talk about a firefighter today and really what it involves, which is more than just putting out a fire.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_05: A lot has to do with communicating with with the people out in the community.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_05: Um we just don't put out fires.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_05: Um we we work with the people that um are challenged in the world.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_05: Um I think if you go down of why why I'm a fireman, I think you can go down clear of the 250 people that come on this job is they care about people.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_05: They care about their community and they care about where it's going to go.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_05: And um, yes, we put out fires, we do EMS, um, we we do so many things on on calls uh that just is not about those two things.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_04: So um when you mentioned EMS, I know that uh a number of years ago we um had the term come up first responders.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_04: Um basically were our ambulance or our um uh response in regards to the medical uh you join each other or one gets there before the other.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_04: And talk about when that came into play, because I don't remember that being around forever.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_05: So I uh what I know about it, it came came into play in about the 70s.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_05: Um I think they brought it in as a flying squad, uh, had various people become paramedics, and so it it's been around for a while.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_05: Uh now what we do have changed, um how we how we run calls now, how we uh communicate with AMR um on getting to those patients and and providing the help and getting them to the hospital.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_05: What I have tried to change is when I came on came back is my number one deal is EMS.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_05: But also that that's a broad view of my what I'm thinking about EMS.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_05: Um things are changing.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_05: A lot of people don't have insurance.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_05: Um so I think we have to start another entity inside the fire department to where we're helping those people also maybe maybe um get to a doctor or provide a doctor form or you know whatever that might be if they're fallen or whatever to to provide help of why they're fallen.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_05: And um so start just not running that call as an EMS, but maybe moving a little bit further of why you're falling or why do you need help and stuff.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_05: So there's so many elderly people that are trying to stay in their homes uh because they don't want to move to that next, you know.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_05: I'm I'm probably gonna be one of those that never wants to leave my house, wants to stay where I brought my kids up.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_05: Um they might have kids that are in other states that are busy.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_05: They're there alone trying to make it.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_05: Um so we've we've reached a lot of those people when I was in the companies to where, man, all they need is help back to the bed, or they fill and they need to back get help back into the bed.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_05: Not necessarily that they have to go to the hospital, but to provide those type of services too.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_04: So a 911 call, somebody's falling in their home, that generally gets it gives a 9-1, yeah.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_04: That's uh and as we have talked about an aging population, especially those who may experience homelessness, helping people to stabilize in their home can prevent some of that.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_04: So Chief, um are you from Topeka?
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_04: Did you grow up here?
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_05: Grew up in the Pot 1 area.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_05: Um had a great upbringing and uh went to the public schools and uh Pot 1, Roosevelt, and Topeka High.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_04: Um so Was there anybody on the fire department?
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_04: I know that you mentioned the TV show that you gleaned from that kind of help you get there.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_04: Was there anybody that you knew on the fire department uh that uh maybe encouraged you to check into being a firefighter?
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I had a next door neighbor that was a fireman here in Topeka.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_05: Uh so that's kind of who I expired and uh to to also I needed a job to.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_03: Let's talk about the royalty.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_04: That's when they lined up with what you'd like to do.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_04: So G36 years, you stepped out here not too long ago in retirement, and um uh that wasn't even a full year, and you came back on his interim and then now as the official uh chief of the Topeka Fire Department.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_04: Why did you come back?
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_05: You know, um I think it was I think I don't think I was done.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_05: Uh I thought I was done, uh, but I did a lot of soul search in those seven months.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_05: Believe it or not, that was a hard winter.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_05: Remember, we had a bunch of snow, and uh and I'm trying to figure out what I'm gonna do for my retirement, right?
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_05: Um But you know, I still was involved with the community at still never got away from that.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_05: Uh still not I didn't get away from the connection of the younger kids on the job.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_05: Um, because being a fireman, you also get to know their families and get to know who they are.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_05: So it's just not just you can leave that job and you're done.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_05: Those connections carry and and uh because you're seeing their kids grow up and and uh so one of the things I wanted to do is provide uh more stability for these younger kids coming up and uh and get them where they need to be, and uh then maybe I can retire.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_04: Well, hopefully you'll have younger kids keep coming.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_04: Maybe you won't get a chance to retire.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_04: Lamanda, you've had a chance to uh work in your time here as uh as CEO of Topeka Rescue Mission with police chiefs and fire chiefs and most recently chief long staff.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_04: And so talk about what your experience has been with our current chief and uh some cool stuff you did around Christmas.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I think uh when I think about the fire chief, the first thing that I think of is um dignity, and I also think of team player.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think he is a man of um character, and I think regardless if he's looking at um one of his uh new employees or a veteran employee or a business owner or someone on the street who is dirty, um, I think he just sees them as people.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um and to me, you know, that's not really a trait that is exemplified everywhere.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: And so doing the work we do, where I know how it feels to need to be able To interface with donors, be able to be interfacing with business owners and be in boardrooms, but yet also understanding that someone who is in the midst of addiction or in the midst of a mental illness crisis or something, that their value isn't any less than someone that's in a suit and tie.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: That can speak articulately and those kinds of things.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think that was something I noticed very early on in meeting him was he just has a care for people and he has the ability to truly hear what people are saying, but also I think what's not being said by his bosses, by community members, by stakeholders.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: But I also think that he is also devoted to the elderly who are scared, or someone who might be talking to themselves, or um someone that, you know, three or four different calls that you're running, we can't get aggravated with them.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: We have to figure out why these calls keep happening.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: And so that I think then the Lord has put him in this position that that dignity piece um trickles down.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: And um it doesn't make, I'm sure, their work as firefighters any easier, but it does change the culture of which they're doing their job.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: Culture.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_04: It's huge.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: And um I noticed that.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: The other thing that I appreciate with him is um I can just tell he's a team player, and here's where I have to do the funny thing.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: So uh met him a couple of weeks ago, and something I started, you know, several years ago when I came was to go out to do Christmas deliveries for people in need that are that we adopt through the Christmas Bureau with United Way of Call Valley.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I had this idea for the police chief, the fire chief, and myself to go out each Christmas and do deliveries because sometimes people are um they might have a negative um attitude towards TRM.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: We're religious or we're this or we're judgmental.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of times those same people struggle with police or struggle with fire.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: And so I thought, what a beautiful way for leadership to serve, but also for people to see us in a different light.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: And so we've done that, and police chiefs and fire chiefs have come and gone.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but we keep the tradition going.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: And so what was funny is in the past, um, Chief Phillips and Chief Wheelis never wanted me to drive.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: I know shocking.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I have no idea.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: And so there's this joke.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: And if you saw some of the past photos, like they're taking the keys from me and all of this stuff, and it was just lighthearted.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um and in their defense, they they had some reasons to not want to ride with me.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_01: But anyway, so this year I give um, you know, the fire chief saying, Hey, here's the um reputation I have with driving.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: And so you can drive yourself, you can drive this vehicle, or you can be really courageous and go ahead and ride with me.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: And he passed me, he's like, Oh, come on, I'll load up.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's okay.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: And so he did.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: He loaded up, I drove us, I made one minor mistake.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_04: He's got direct connections with first responders, too.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_04: That's maybe why.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: He knew the response time to his injury would be okay.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: It'd be quick.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but anyway, so I say that lightheartedness, but instantly you could just tell he's a team player.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: And not only does he take his work serious, he also knows there needs to be joy in the work.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so those are the two things that I just feel so connected to him is his level of dignity that he allows everybody to have, but his ability to be a team player regardless of who the player is.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm thankful.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_05: Man, I appreciate it.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_05: You brought up one thing that that uh one of the things why I came back is the passion.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_05: I I served eight about 18 years at Fire Station 7, which is one of the it is the busiest station in Topeka, and it's counting for like in the 70s in the in the state, whatever.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_05: But uh I used, you know, there's people and and I'm sure this happens in any type of job that you start getting that burnout time because you're running 10, 15 calls.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_05: Most of them are in the middle of the night.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_05: And you get these younger firefighters that are, oh man, we're running that same person.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_05: We're running, you're we're doing that same thing.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_05: And I used to say to them is do you think they wake up every day and say, hey, I'm gonna call 911 today because I want to mess with those people or that system.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_05: They don't.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_03: No.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_05: And um I've always kind of kind of revamped of why we're there.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_05: We're there not to judge maybe where they came from or whatever, because this is somebody's kid.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_05: These these are people out here that are involved in their families are out there, and we need to take care of them.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_05: And um so that's why I've always said we don't judge what what's going on with them.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_05: We try to help it, help them and move forward.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_05: And no matter if I run them 17 times that week, uh, we're still gonna do the same thing and try to help them.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_05: Because that one time might make a difference, right?
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and that one time making a difference, you know, we had a delivery and we we were walking up to um this apartment.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_01: Kind of make a long story short.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_01: The outside of this apartment um was a little alarming um with just some of the decorations that were up and um kind of had, you know, some chucky decorations and just a different feel, right?
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_04: It's your typical Christmas.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then I walk up, you know, and I'm knocking on the door, Merry Christmas! We love you, we're here to give you deliveries, you know.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_01: And um, and there was someone pretty hesitant on the on the other side.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: And anyways, he ends up coming out, and once he realizes what we're there for and all of that, um, I think he was honored that we were all there.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: But this man went from, you know, being hesitant um and lonely, because he told us, to standing there saluting the police chief and the fire chief.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: And you could tell, I mean, I think he thought it was great I was there.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: He hugged me, but I really can't compete.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: I had a Santa Claus hat.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: You can't compete with Santa Claus hat with uniform, right?
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: But he was so honored they were there and um to see that go from kind of this boarded up place and he's he's nervous and he's hesitant, and quite frankly, he didn't have to let us in.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and yet he comes out and then sees.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_01: But one of the things that he said when we're explaining the stuff that we had for him was he looks up and he points up at the sky and he says, Thank you, God, for answering a prayer to remind me I'm not alone.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like those moments, I just want fire chief, police chief, myself, city manager, business owners, all of that.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_01: I want us to never like overlook those little moments because there's a lot of moments of the multiple calls.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: I was last night dealing with an issue in the shelter from midnight to 3 a.m.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: Then I couldn't shut my brain back off.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_01: So I've been up since midnight.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there's a lot of those moments that are very tricky when dealing with people, and we are people dealing with broken issues too.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's hard.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: But in that moment, it took three minutes out of our day.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: And what we didn't know is that this man is praying because he feels alone.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: And so we leave him his stuff.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: He hugs both of um fire chief, police chief hugs myself.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: We get a picture with him, but we go to round the corner and he says again, um, Lord, thank you that you sent me friends today.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_01: And like some people can look at that and go, Oh, you know, that's just Philly stuff or whatever.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like, no people, that's what life is about because there's a lot of people that are looking for one moment of just a friend, one moment to feel somewhat included or normal, whether that's elderly, young aging out of foster care who's never had a family, there are people all over that don't fit.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_01: And they're looking for us leaders or just even community members, they're looking for people to care, even if it's in that one small moment, standing in the grocery store, smiling at somebody at the gas pump.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: Something that we take for granted is something that someone else is yearning for.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: And and I just don't ever want us to forget that.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_04: And uh people can make some bad decisions in that vulnerability or be taken advantage of.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_04: Chief, um your care about people.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_04: Um sounds like that's been a theme for you through your career and still is today, and culturally helping the younger firefighters to learn that.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_04: What you run into in your 36 years of uh being on the job, um there's been some, I'm sure, without saying the least, very difficult people to work with.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_04: How have you not become jaded in regards to people and their problems?
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_04: It happens with everybody who is in social services work or just working with people because people are very problematic sometimes.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_04: What has been your way that you have continued to focus on the person versus the circumstances that person may be presenting at the moment to continue to care for them and then culturally lead your department in that regard?
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_04: Because it's hard work.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, there's you've been cussed at, you've probably, you know, uh who knows what's happened to you and the and the firefighters because of people where they are in their vulnerability.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_04: How have you kept your true north on that?
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_05: Wow, that's a big question.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, it is.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_05: And um, you know, I I think you have to start with kind of the experiences that you've you've had through your career and and also uh through through your whole life and and your family and and um but uh I think if we we take that servant person because you know our our occupation has changed dramatically.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_05: Um you know, when when society changes, we have to adapt.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_05: And I think that's kind of where we're going today is more uh and you know, Topeka, we we if you listen to the news, we do have a lot of fires continuously every every week.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_05: Um so but the streets and caring for people and also where where people want to to have us there and to take us in and knowing that we do have that side and that we do care about them because I can go through the whole entire line again and these people I don't I don't have to teach these people of how to do that.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_05: They already have it.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_05: I just need them to be able to bring that out a little bit more and know that you can go out in the community and you can talk to people and and just not stay in that house.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_05: And you know, we started a program of people coming to our firehouses and seeing what we do and being able to talk to people and kind of really know who we are.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_05: And I think once that connection happens, then they know that, okay, these people really want to help me.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_04: Well, right.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_04: Chief, Chief, um over your career um you engaged um various times with probably one of the most misunderstood populations in our community, and that's the homeless.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_04: When I say misunderstood, there's all kinds of opinions of why someone's homeless, and uh oftentimes they're mostly wrong.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_04: Um we are - to speak a rescue mission in this community, is dedicated to try to help that person, um, regardless of why, um, to help them not have to be homeless anymore.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, that's kind of oversimplification of it.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_04: When you have personally or your department has run into the situation where um maybe somebody started a fire and their tent's on fire, or they've started a field fire, or maybe a a building that they've tried to keep warm in, um, you got a job to do to get the fire out.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_04: Um, got a job to do to make sure everybody's safe.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_04: Um how do you look at that person in regards to this person that's very misunderstood is to not just be kind of irritated that they are creating a problem.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_04: They've got other calls to go on, but they're they're they could get into the shelter or they could get a job or they could quit doing this kind of work.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_04: How do you how do you balance out we got an emergency to deal with, but we also have this person.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_04: And I know you mentioned that you don't judge, but how how do you navigate through that, try to help that person to maybe think differently?
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_05: Well, it go it goes back, I think, to we get called to the river for a fire, um, and we need to take care of that situation.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_05: I'm not there to go into the history of why they're there, or if maybe they're cussing at me or whatever.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_05: Um, but uh we're there to do do that job, but I'm not there to say what I think or what I feel.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_05: That's that that's not for me to do.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_05: And um my job is there to help what however I can to help the tents, but because you know uh we we can go along that river back when I was running the streets and see a fire and and um but we have to make sure everybody's okay, everybody got out.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_05: Um how they're trying to survive is I I can't get into that, you know.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_05: I think it goes much deeper, and uh that's where your guys' help has helped the community to find those answers out, to get them their help.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_05: Um, but I think it's a great deal.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_05: I my wife has a store down here in Noto, which she was never familiar with the 800 block of North Kansas, and and you know what?
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_05: I don't think she'll ever leave the 800 block of North Kansas now.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_05: Why is that?
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_05: You know, she has septed relationships from people from the rescue mission and really got to know them, and and um I I think um some of them will be uh in my will at some time.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_05: There's there's a guy named Walt that that I I have to hear about 40 times a day.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_05: I don't even know who this guy is.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_05: And uh but uh there there's been several people coming in our store and and they love them and and they treat the store with respect.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_05: And and um so no, there I think things are moving the right direction.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_05: Um What's the name of your wife's store?
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_05: Um Avenue Collective.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_05: Uh-huh.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_05: What is that store about?
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_05: Um a little bit of everything.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_05: Um so it is more 60s, 70s stuff, um kind of yeah.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_05: Uh you know, also it's it's filling up my house.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_05: It's a lot of money.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_05: She always says, Oh, well, I gotta pre-buy to get it in my store.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_05: Well, it's can't be in my living room, right?
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_03: You know, she's just ahead.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_03: She's just working ahead at the time.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_05: I have to buy a container.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_04: So, Chief, that I know what it means to me to to hear about what your wife is doing and and what how you are partnering with her and in reaching out to uh be welcoming to people experiencing homelessness.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_04: Manda, uh talk talk about how you feel about that.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_04: Umto is a very important part of our community.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_04: Uh we've seen some really great things happen with our uh NOTO uh leaders and and business owners, and it's been a challenge too, um, because people are challenging.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_04: So to hear um what the chief has said about his wife welcoming people and helping, what's up with you?
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I think um I think partnership is the word that we throw out a lot.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, just talking about community impact and working together, you know, we say partnership often.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I think the thing that is sometimes not understood about partnership is it's not always centered on positive things.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_01: And that's when it really, to me, the rubber meets the road of um who of us are just kind of acquaintances and which ones of us are true partners.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the things that I value um so much for most of the business owners in Noto, most of the business owners downtown, is they also talk to me when there's challenges.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so not everybody are is kind of having the behavior of the delightful waltz, right?
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I know who she's talking about, and you do.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_01: You just love them.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but then there are also times where behaviors are challenging and um they're concerning for the individual.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_01: We care about their, you know, their welfare, but we also care about um economic development and we care about our businesses being able to thrive.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_01: And so what I appreciate.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_01: Just about his wife and several other businesses in Noto and in downtown, is we communicate.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_01: And so when there are challenges, TRM in most cases tries to be a first response before we do 911 calls, depending on what the situation is.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes there's emergencies that are emergencies, and that's a 9-1-1 call.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_01: But if we've got someone that is walking the streets, if we've got someone that's maybe talking to themselves, someone that seems like they're hungry, those kinds of things, they will message us on these GroupMe apps that we have.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_01: And then we're able to respond, which then lessens 911 calls happening.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_01: But then it allows us to be able to try to put together the dots in which how he just described when they're coming for a fire or a crisis, they've got that job to do.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's where we pivot to the social service side, where we're then getting to know the people, the stories, putting together the paper trails on people to get them help that they need.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_01: And so yes, when he's talking about um his wife's uh care for people and being a successful business owner, that touches my heart.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_01: But what even does even more is that her character along with some others, it's the same even when things are difficult and there's difficult behaviors or we're not sure what to do.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I appreciate the grace we've gotten to because there have been some incidents where um there is criminal activity happening.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_01: Oftentimes we find the criminal activity is not from someone experiencing homelessness.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_01: They're usually housed within a five-block radius.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, however, there are some times where someone experiencing homelessness does commit a crime.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_01: And to be able to work together and they also respect when I say this is not something we can respond to, that does need to be a 911 call, or we do need other people involved.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_01: That to me is what is authentic partnership, is when people understand TRM's role, and yes, so much of it is rooted in the gospel, and so much of it is rooted in understanding people's value, not to society, but to the Lord.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, absolutely, that's that's our our core.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yet there is a lot of stuff about TRM too that is logical, that is done with wisdom, that's done with intentionality, systems that have been in place for decades, systems that we are constantly evaluating to make sure they are up to par.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there is a lot of authentic partnership that TRM does with Noto, with downtown, with other areas, other agencies, um, because not everything is always beautiful communication and all of that.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I appreciate that in his wife alongside other business owners.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_05: So one of the things that's coming out of City Hall is that now we're getting all these entities together instead of separated.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_05: Everybody was doing their own thing.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_05: TRM was doing their own thing, fire was doing their own thing, police were doing their own thing.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_05: Now, the city manager along with Avery Moore, my boss on the public service side, has now brought all these teams together in Topeka.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_05: And I have I'm going to be um one of one of where Topeka Fire is going is is having a unit out there that is Topeka Fire that can reach individuals that maybe need pre-help or or kind of log them in like what you do.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_05: And and and then also have that connection with one another where you can talk to one another.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_05: And um so, you know, Vallejo, Astra, Al, uh, please, please do s certain things with their CIT.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_05: We do certain things with our CIT.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_05: Um so now with everybody coming to the table, and I think it's gonna be a good deal, and that's that's all a part of what uh Dr.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_05: Perez wants, uh, my boss in public service.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_05: And um I think it's gonna be a good deal for for the city once we start moving this forward.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely, it will be.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_04: So that's partnerships and communication and finding out who does what piece, and and uh that's that's that doesn't happen everywhere.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_04: And I think it even before what is happening now, Topeka has been a little ahead of the game in regards to some of the communities.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_04: I know when we had Seattle here, uh their outreach teams for homeless and police department were not working together.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_04: And they were quite surprised how we were able to do that.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_04: But with that said, there's room for growth.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_04: And um and I really like to uh go back just a minute here and you mentioned going beyond uh just responding to the uh crisis um where it's um trying to f trying to help a person maybe think differently or maybe look at some other options.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_04: What do you have in mind with that?
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_04: So you have, say, uh Mrs.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_04: Jones and she keeps falling in her home.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_04: Um maybe she turned the stove on and burnt the kitchen up and or whatever the case might be.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_04: Um instead of just responding to the situation and putting her fire out or picking her up off the floor multiple times, what do you have in mind that that could look like for Mrs.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_04: Jones to be able to see something different?
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_05: So um what I see and what I think a lot of us have done in our own territories already um is is look beyond and try to figure out why she fell.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_05: Was it a rug?
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_05: Can she walk?
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_05: Um, you know, various things like that.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_05: Now, with this pilot program coming in, we will know that what was the name uh of your Mrs.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_05: Jones.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_05: Hey, we can go check on Mrs.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_05: Jones today, uh, have that pre-check.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_05: Really?
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_05: And uh yeah.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_05: Hey, Ms.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_05: Jones, or get her a walker, she might need a walker, or maybe we need to contact her kids or or whatever that change might be to help her.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_05: But that's what I'm trying to push.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_05: We do that every day.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_05: We but engine companies go into EMS calls, and there's something to where we, you know, they fill in the bathroom in the middle of the night, we're just, you know, um, we've done so many of changing pajamas and putting them back in bed and making sure they're okay and and checking on them the next day.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_05: But now hopefully we'll have this unit now that logs in these people's names and and try to step out there prior and uh and help with other resources where maybe it's TRM that knows these individuals.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_05: Maybe uh Valle or ADA.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_05: You know, Stormont Bell, Mental Health, or or any of those, any of those organizations, uh PD.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_05: Um, okay, wh why is she calling or why he's why is he calling?
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and other people might have that um, you know, that relationship with that person more than what we have.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_05: So, but it's the connection, and I think we can maybe do a little bit better this time.
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_05: It's been talked about for a couple years.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_04: I'm glad to hear that it's not just being talked about, but actually maybe moving forward at this time because um, yeah, we can all work in our different respects, and uh maybe we have some people that want to.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_04: But we're on circles, right?
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_04: It's kinda along the lines of Built for Zero on the homeless issue of national program and it's international now that we're partnering with, the city is partnering with that, to try to um communicate best um with different agency providers and individuals uh around what they call the by name list.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_04: It's um really keeping track of where somebody's at.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_04: So maybe one day they're the rescue mission, another day on the streets, maybe another day in jail.
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_04: How do we help that person and get all everybody working together to try to get them housed?
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_04: And so it sounds something similar to that, which is smart.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_05: So with the new police chief, Chris, this was this was presented in a public safety meeting.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_05: A Avery has public safety meetings with me and Chris together, along with the judge.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_05: And um, you know, I think sometimes when there's various police chiefs or or fire chiefs, they want to own the program.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_05: They don't want nobody's help, right?
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_05: Because they want to take this program and push it forward, and then everybody else, you know, just kind of is dumb or whatever.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_05: But what I have seen is uh he he realizes what we do is different than what they do.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_05: And he's seen that passion of okay, yeah, we need everybody at this table.
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_05: So that's where it starts to choose.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_05: Yep.
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I think I'm I'm excited and I'm also hopeful um because there there's a couple of groups now that are similar to what you've mentioned.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_01: We have been meeting, um, yet we have not had consistent representation from City.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think one of the things that I hope to bring to this team is to bridge an understanding of some of the new people that's on this new committee for us to be pretty careful on like, hey, this has never been done before, because actually it has.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_01: We've got CCOT that meets, we've got some other agencies that we get together and do.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um and we've had for years, but there hasn't been this consistent representation because what you just said, when chiefs change or leadership changes, then that changes our committees.
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_01: What has remained the same is the groups of us that have continued to meet, but when people switch out, then that representation isn't there.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_01: And so my heart, um, I just kind of heard of this group last week.
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_01: I hope to be able to be excited for um this new partnership with city officials who are kind of trying to backbone it.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I'm I'm all in and I want to do that.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_01: I also hope that I will be heard on that because I think we have to be very cautious too, because there have been um groups that have met some of them every week, some of them once a month, and haven't had a partnership from the city side.
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_01: So I want to be that bridge to say, okay, who's really at the table, who's not at the table, and to really make sure that we have an understanding of systems being put in place so that when you're gone, I'm gone, city manager changes, Barry retires again, again.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_04: Um of us just do that.
• 51:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, that's right.
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_01: That this work remains because that's right.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_01: Talking about hard cases, being proactive to see what we can do before all resources are tapped out and all of that, those are things that I desire, as you and many of us, um, we want those systems in place for our community and for it to not be people-centered, not this new leadership or this leadership.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_01: I would love for there to be things in place so that regardless of who's there, the work is done on behalf of our community.
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I think we are so close to that.
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I'm so excited to look at the work that has been being done so that we're not um minimizing or saying that people have been in silos when they haven't.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_01: There's actually been a lot of collective, collaborative, impactful work being done.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_01: But then I also want those of us who maybe haven't had partnerships with the city, I want us to be excited about that.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I want us to be on board with that.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm hoping to really be a bridge on that in regards to TRM's role.
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_01: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_04: It takes the right people, one to do the right thing together.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_04: And so I think that uh the chemistry of the right people now sounds uh on the city side, sounds like it's really moving in the right direction.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's exciting.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_04: Chief, we want to thank you for being here today.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_04: Is there anything else you'd like to share with the listeners?
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_05: You know, I w I want to um tell one story that has really kind of changed my life and it probably happened close to twenty years ago when we brought in a little girl.
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_05: Um she is now 31.
• 53:32
  SPEAKER_05: I think she came to us when she was eleven.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_05: Um so she uh loves playing with toys.
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_05: She can't communicate, she's in a wheelchair.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_05: Um so the few months that that when she was at her home, um and I got up early in the morning and seen her in there playing, and and I took another glance at her, and she's playing these little toys and and happy, right?
• 54:11
  SPEAKER_05: She can't walk, she can't talk, she can't communicate.
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_05: But you know what?
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_05: I looked at her and she was happy.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_05: And uh and I looked looked there and I said, Man, how can I walk around each day and complain when I watch this little girl just happy?
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_05: You know, wasn't her fault of why she's that way.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_05: And let me continue with her that she has brought to me.
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_05: So um we were involved in Tark at that time, and we needed a wheelchair van or lift, and they said, Well, we're gonna get get some estimates on on getting one in your van.
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_05: So we we uh go out and they Tark gets estimates and stuff, and they call my wife and I and said, My wife told me, Well, you're gonna have to drive to Wichita.
• 55:08
  SPEAKER_05: I said, Wichita?
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_05: There's places around here that put in these things.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_05: Well, you gotta go.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_05: I guess it's so cheap that they don't they don't know why, but you gotta go.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_05: And I said, All right, so I took the day and drove up there and went into the door, and this is a big company.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_05: So I'm sitting there going, okay, why is this?
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_05: This is a huge company in Wichita, putting in um uh wheelchair van lists and stuff, and I walk in there and the lady goes, Hold on one second.
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_05: So um I sit there and waited.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_05: A man comes out, and it was her dad.
• 55:55
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_05: And I said, Wow.
• 55:59
  SPEAKER_05: He goes, I just seen the name come across, and he's in that field.
• 56:07
  SPEAKER_05: That's what he does.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_05: And they made it so cheap to where they wanted to provide that will.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_05: So back to the judgment of a person, I I this guy was a great man.
• 56:22
  SPEAKER_05: Cherry carrot.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_05: I don't even care what happened back in whatever happened in those stages.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, no, you and your wife have this little girl in the case.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_04: Still, still today.
• 56:32
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, still today.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 56:36
  SPEAKER_04: That's the other side of Chief Wonks that.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_04: Uh-huh.
• 56:39
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_01: So in that you just never know.
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_04: No.
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 56:43
  SPEAKER_04: Well, Chief, um thank you for your 36 years of service uh in this community, and thanks for coming back.
• 56:50
  SPEAKER_04: And um I think what we've heard today is very encouraging about uh, as Lamanda mentioned that, with the city uh moving forward, it's people like you that um and obviously uh Dr.
• 57:02
  SPEAKER_04: Perez and others who can really push this community forward, not just coming out when there's a problem, but also being a part of the solution of going forward.
• 57:13
  SPEAKER_04: So uh thank you again for everything you do, and thank you for what you're doing.
• 57:16
  SPEAKER_04: Thanks, I'm looking forward to more.
• 57:18
  SPEAKER_04: So thank you for listening to our community, our mission.
• 57:20
  SPEAKER_04: You have heard from the Topeka Fire Department chief, Chad Longstaff, uh, today, who served for 36 years on the department, had about a seven-month retirement, came back, and now he is top guy.
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_04: And so uh we are blessed to have leadership like this in our community.
• 57:37
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 57:37
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you for listening today.
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_04: If you'd like more information about Topeka Rescue Mission, you can go to TRMonline.org.
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_04: That's T R M online dot or G.
• 57:47
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you for joining us on our 300th podcast of our community, our mission.