TriStar Portland ER and Sumner County EMS helped bring attention to a culture of mental health awareness by supporting filming of the music video for Grammy-winner and singer-songwriter Chris Stapleton for his recently released song Fire Away.
The message of this song is brought to life in a powerful video capturing a couple’s journey through changing mental health stages that ultimately result in the wife committing self-harm and requiring an emergency medical response from EMS and emergency room staff.
“TriStar Portland ER is proud to have played a small part in Chris Stapleton’s message in bringing awareness to this important health topic in our community and across the country,” said Melony Scott, emergency services director at TriStar Portland ER and TriStar Hendersonville Medical Center. “We hope this video expands an important conversation and leads individuals to resources that can help prevent a tragic outcome as portrayed in the video.”
Stapleton’s production team wanted the video to be as authentic as possible to truly capture the emotion and urgency conveyed about mental health in this song. They collaborated with Colby Carroll, RN, CHEP, manager of TriStar Portland ER, and Sumner County EMS for guidance on what would happen during a real-life hospital emergency code. The crew set up in TriStar Portland ER’s trauma room that is specifically designed for paramedics to bring in a patient to expedite resuscitation or prepare for treatment. Filming lasted approximately five hours with footage captured of Sumner County EMS transporting the patient to the ambulance entrance, wheeling the patient in on a stretcher and receiving resuscitation in the trauma room.
This also where actor Ben Foster, who portrayed the husband in this video, is seen for the last time with his deceased wife. Foster graciously thanked the TriStar Portland ER staff and Sumner County EMS first responders for the difference they make each and every day – saying what they do is “much harder than his job of portraying it in film.”
"We are thankful to be involved in conveying such a powerful message," said Scott.
Mental health impacts people of all ages. TriStar Health offers middle Tennessee comprehensive behavioral health services and addiction treatment for seniors, adults, adolescents and military. If you need immediate assistance with mental health, please call (877) 342-1450.