Norwalk Wellness Program

[Geppetto 31]

Connecticut Department Implements New Wellness Program

LAUREN GARRISON

Courtesy of The Norwalk Citizen-News

NORWALK, Conn.-- The Fire Department, which has seen its fair share of job-related injuries, is in the midst of implementing a new wellness program for its firefighters.

In a recent interview, Fire Chief Denis McCarthy said he expects the program to reduce the number of injuries and to lessen the severity of injuries and, consequently, the amount of time firefighters spend away from the job recovering.

McCarthy noted that Westport, Wilton, Stratford and Bridgeport have all implemented similar programs with positive results. Researchers from Southern Connecticut State University evaluated Westport's program and found "the investment paid dividends back to the city in a safer work environment and reduction of loss of time," he said.

Norwalk's firefighter wellness program is being funded by a $178,640 grant, of which 80 percent was supplied by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and 20 percent by the city. The funds have been allocated among four components of the program. First, $23,630 was dedicated to immunizing firefighters against hepatitis B and tuberculosis. Next, physical examinations were provided for all firefighters, for a total cost of $43,090, and $73,000 was used to purchase new exercise equipment a "universal gym," a station with different weight training activities, and an elliptical machine for each of the five fire stations. Orders have been placed for this equipment.

Finally, an exercise physiologist is to be hired for $38,920 to evaluate and work with each member of the department to develop a tailored fitness training program. Firefighters will be re-evaluated twice a year, at which time their training regimens will be adjusted to reflect their progress.

A request for proposals from companies interested in conducting the training program was scheduled to go out this week.

"Certainly firefighters have to have a very high level of fitness in order to do this type of work," said McCarthy. He spoke of a "culture of fitness in the Fire Department that has been here for quite some time" and noted that firefighters "contributed and purchased exercise equipment and the facilities are used on a regular basis." However, he said, not all firefighters are in peak physical condition. "There are some that spend quite a bit of effort maintaining good physical health. I think that for the middle group that works out occasionally, this [fitness program] will help support them. And it may motivate some firefighters who don't regularly participate in fitness to start," he said.

"Our perspective is focusing on firefighters' safety," said McCarthy. However, he acknowledged, budgetary issues also play a role. "We can spend less money on other programs when as a department we're paying high workers' compensation claims," he said. "This [program] will take some of that pressure off our department so we can apply those funds in other areas that more directly provide service to the community."

In an e-mail, Finance Director Thomas Hamilton described workers' compensation as including "payment for medical expenses for work-related injuries, compensation for periods of time that employees are unable to work due to temporary total disability (and sometimes permanent, total disability), and payments to compensate employees for permanent partial disabilities."

According to Hamilton, the Fire Department's budget for 2007-08 includes $644,259 for workers' compensation. The prior fiscal year's budget dedicated $472,606 to workers' compensation, while the 2005-06 budget included $781,224. Hamilton explained that a department's claims experience determines its workers' compensation budget each year. "We use five years of claims experience to smooth out the ups and downs associated with a department having one good or one bad year," he said. "In the case of the Fire Department, they had improving claim experience (i.e., claim costs were going down), until fairly recently, when one large claim occurred which has had an impact on the department's overall claims experience that caused their allocation to increase in FY 2007-08."

Hamilton noted, "Overall, considering the inherent dangers involved in fire fighting work, the NFD has a good track record with respect to workers' comp claims."

McCarthy said the most common injuries among firefighters involve "strains and sprains, back injuries, shoulders and knees." He estimated that the department sees "a dozen or so serious injuries" a year and noted that "a number of employees have had to have back surgery."

"There is a considerable impact on their lives when they get hurt at work," he said. "Our obligation is to provide them with all the tools and training, and fitness training is as important as any other training that we can provide."

Beyond the injuries, firefighters also face a high risk of heart disease. "Nationwide, the highest firefighter fatalities come from heart attacks," said McCarthy. The phenomenon has struck locally as well: This past year, a Norwalk lieutenant in his late 30s was forced to retire after having a heart attack. "Fortunately he survived, but he was not medically cleared to return to work," McCarthy said, noting that the department's new program will include aerobic exercise as well as strength training to target firefighters' cardiovascular fitness.

McCarthy attributed the high incidence of heart attacks among firefighters to several factors. "When firefighters respond to calls, the body is infused with adrenaline, and if it doesn't turn out to be an emergency where you can work off that adrenaline, there is a negative effect on the body. You have to absorb all that adrenaline. [There are also] high rates of dehydration during emergencies." The department has made attempts to combat these problems, such as providing fluids for firefighters at emergency scenes, but "we're not always completely successful at doing that," McCarthy said. The bottom line is that "the fitter you are, the better your body is able to react to those spikes in adrenaline and spikes in stress," he said.

A recent study, "Emergency Duties and Deaths from Heart Disease Among Firefighters in the United States" by Stefanos N. Kales, M.D., M.P.H., Elpidoforos S. Soteriades, M.D., Sc.D., Costas A. Christophi, Ph.D., and David C. Christiani, M.D., M.P.H., which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on March 22, found that 39 percent of the 1,144 firefighter deaths reported to the U.S. Fire Administration between Jan. 1, 1994, and Dec. 31, 2004, were due to coronary heart disease. Of these deaths, 32 percent occurred during fire suppression, an activity that represents only 1 to 5 percent of firefighters' professional time, while 31 percent occurred during alarm response or return and the remaining 37 percent occurred during other duties. The study estimated that fire suppression "was associated with a risk of death from coronary heart disease that was approximately 10 to 100 times as high as the risk associated with nonemergency duties." The report concluded, "We think that the most likely explanation for these findings is the increased cardiovascular demand of fire suppression."

Republished with permission of The Norwalk Citizen-News.

Finally, somebody is spending some money on the most important part of firefighting - the firefighters!