NO
The men and women who serve in Public Safety respond to calls for help from the public and routinely risk their lives in the process. While SUPPORTING HEROES is heavily supported by Public Safety personnel, it is important for members of the general public to show their appreciation for the service of those who continue to serve and the service and sacrifice of those who have given their lives in the line of duty. Membership in SUPPORTING HEROES is a great way to do exactly that.
To become a member of SUPPORTING HEROES, please visit our Membership page.
NO
SUPPORTING HEROES responds to all line of duty Public Safety deaths in Indiana, Kentucky, and Missouri. We provide the same support to families and agencies regardless of whether a fallen hero was a member or not.
With regard to membership, we do not ask Public Safety personnel to support us because of what we might do for an individual's family, we ask him/her to support us because of what we will do for his/her Public Safety family.
All financial information can be found on our Annual Reports & Returns page.
Telephone numbers, mailing address, and contact form are available by visiting our Contact page.
YES
Volunteering is a great way to show your support for our cause. Please visit our Volunteer Participation page and fill out the online form.
Donations of any amount are always welcome and sincerely appreciated.
You can donate securely online by visiting our Donations page.
NO
Membership is for individuals only. Entities such as public safety agencies, businesses, or other groups are recognized for support as being Partners. Partner recognition is granted when a group makes a donation, holds a fundraiser, or a percentage of its members are members of SUPPORTING HEROES.
To view our current Partners, please visit our Partners page.
For more information about becoming a Partner, please Contact us.
First, it is important to recognize that the #1 cause of death of firefighters is heart attack. This is not reflective of a generally poor physical condition of firefighters -- as many are in exceptional physical health, but of the extreme nature and stressors of their duties.
For years, heart attack deaths that seemed to clearly be duty-related were not treated as line-of-duty because of the difficulty of proving with medical certainty that a specific event was THE catalyst for a cardiac event. Benefits were denied to many families who seemed to clearly deserve them.
To right this wrong, several public safety organizations presented evidence regarding delayed manifestations of cardiovascular effects of stressful and strenuous duties of public safety. As a result, Congress passed the Hometown Heroes Act in 2003.
In essence, the Hometown Heroes Act gives the benefit of the doubt to public safety officers who suffer heart attacks or strokes (that later prove fatal) within 24 hours of "non-routine stressful or strenuous duty." The guidelines also specify that the presumption exists unless there is "compelling evidence to the contrary."
The Dale Long Act was passed in 2012 extending those same provisions to vascular ruptures.
NO
Survivors are NEVER asked or required to pay ANY of the money back. Many offer to do so, but they are told that it was our members' and supporters' honor to help them in every way we could. When state and/or federal line of duty death benefits come, we encourage them to invest the funds wisely to establish a firm foundation for their family's future.