Welcome to the NVFC Heart-Healthy Firefighter E-News. The NVFC Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program was designed to help firefighters emergency medical personnel become more heart-healthy and lower the incidence of heart attack related deaths in the emergency services. We hope that you enjoy this newsletter and that it benefits not only you, but others in your department, family, and community.

1. Study Finds Firefighters Have Greater Heart Risk While Responding To Emergencies
2. Heart-Healthy Firefighter Work Group Meets
3. NVFC Conducts Workshop, Screenings at CFSI Seminars
4. Fire and EMS Health and Safety Stand Down to be Held June 17-23
5. More Diabetes, More Heart Disease: Study
6. FDA Diet Tips
7. Small Steps to Heart Health

Study Finds Firefighters Have Greater Heart Risk While Responding To Emergencies

A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine on March 22 found that firefighters face a much higher risk of dying from heart problems while responding to an emergency than while performing non-emergency activities. The study underscores the need for fire departments to make proper diet and exercise a priority.

Conducted by researchers at Harvard Medical School, the study sought to determine the duty-specific risk of firefighter deaths from coronary heart disease. The researchers analyzed the data from all on-duty firefighter deaths between 1994 and 2004, except those firefighters who died in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The study found that the odds of a firefighter dying from coronary heart disease were significantly higher during emergency firefighting duties than during non-emergency duties. Fire suppression was associated with the highest risk, calculated at approximately 10 to 100 times higher than the risk during down time. Other emergency response activities, including responding to an alarm and returning from an alarm, also showed increase risk.

Heart disease, including heart attacks, is the leading cause of firefighter deaths each year. The NVFC launched the Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program in 2003 to promote fitness, nutrition, and health awareness within the nation’s fire and emergency services. This program is the only national heart attack awareness and prevention campaign targeted at all firefighters and EMS personnel, both volunteer and career. Learn more about the NVFC Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program online at www.healthy-firefighter.org.

To read the full text of the study, Emergency Duties and Deaths from Heart Disease Among Firefighter in the United States, go to http://content.nejm.org/cgi/reprint/356/12/1207.pdf.

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The NVFC Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program Work Group met on March 29. Consisting of professionals from health and safety-related organizations as well as NVFC staff and Board members, the Work Group meets twice a year to provide oversight for and review of the Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program. The meeting included an overview of the progress and results of the Program as it enters its fifth year, as well as presentations and insights from members of the Work Group. Jay Bell & Associates also attended to discuss the upcoming Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program Evaluation they will be conducting for years one through four.

Speakers at the meeting included: Maggie Wilson and Brooke Marshall, NVFC; Ken Viglio, L&T Health and Fitness; Jennifer Weber, American Dietetic Association; Marna Hoard, Medical Reserve Corps; Dr. Anastasios Zavales, Gymflesh; Janet Dejesus, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute; Rita Fahy, National Fire Protection Association; and Bill Troup, U.S. Fire Administration.

For more information on the NVFC Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program and Work Group, visit www.healthy-firefighter.org.

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The NVFC provided health screenings, cooking demonstrations, and a health and wellness seminar during the annual Congressional Fire Services Institute (CFSI) Seminars on March 28.

Attendees were invited to take advantage of free screenings for blood pressure, cholesterol, and glucose at the NVFC Heart-Healthy Firefighter booth, which partnered with L&T Health and Fitness to conduct the screenings. The booth also featured cooking demonstrations. Chef Christy Edgar of Mama’s Table Personal Chef proved to attendees that heart-healthy cooking can be simple and delicious through a series of demonstrations and tastings throughout the day.

In addition to the exhibit booth, Maggie Wilson, NVFC Director of Health and Safety, participated in a workshop entitled Promoting Health and Wellness in the Fire Service. This roundtable discussion featuring Wilson and other prominent health and safety leaders showed emergency department personnel what steps they can take to improve the health and safety of their firefighters.

The Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program will be conducting health screenings and cooking demonstrations next at FDIC in Indianapolis, IN, from April 19-21. To view a full schedule of upcoming Heart-Healthy Firefighter events, visit www.healthy-firefighter.org.

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The Third Annual Fire and EMS Stand Down will take place June 17-23. This year’s theme, “Ready to Respond,” focuses on the proper training, preparation, and equipment necessary to answer a call and return safely. The Stand Down has an expanded schedule this year to provide departments with maximum flexibility for participating in the exercise, including weekend opportunities to better accommodate volunteers.

The National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) urges every fire and EMS department to participate in the Stand Down by suspending all non-emergency activity in order to focus entirely on firefighter and EMS safety until all shifts and personnel have taken part. The NVFC joins the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), the IAFC Volunteer and Combination Officers Section, the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), and other emergency service organizations in encouraging participation in this event.

“Firefighter and EMS personnel health and safety must remain a top priority, and the Stand Down offers a way to garner increased attention to this critical issue,” said Maggie Wilson, Director of Health and Safety for the NVFC. “The NVFC continues to work towards decreasing the number of line-of-duty deaths through programs such as the Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program, the Emergency Vehicle Safety Initiative, and the Emergent Health and Safety Issues Project. I hope all departments use the Stand Down as an opportunity to address important health and safety issues and move this critical topic to the center of focus.”

For more information regarding the Stand Down and related activities, visit www.iafc.org/standdown.

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By Steven Reinberg, HealthDay Reporter

As the number of Americans with type 2 diabetes has soared over the past 50 years, so, too, has heart disease linked to the blood sugar illness, researchers report.

"The proportion of heart disease due to diabetes has increased about 60 percent over time," said lead author Dr. Caroline S. Fox, a medical officer at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Framingham Heart Study. "Compared with other risk factors for heart disease, diabetes is becoming more of an issue," she said. Fox's team reported its findings in the March 27 issue of Circulation.

"I'm not surprised, but I am frightened," added Dr. Larry Deeb, president for medicine and science at the American Diabetes Association. "If you have diabetes and you have a heart attack, you don't do as well and the death rates are worse," he said.

The only solution is to prevent diabetes, Deeb said. In one major prevention trial, "we showed that with a half-hour of exercise a day and the loss of 10 to 15 pounds, you reduce the new diabetes cases by over 58 percent," he said.

In obesity-linked type 2 diabetes, the body either doesn't produce enough insulin -- the hormone that converts blood sugar to energy for cells -- or the cells ignore the insulin. Left untreated, the disease can produce complications such as heart disease, blindness, and nerve and kidney damage. Almost two-thirds (65 percent) of diabetics will die from heart disease or stroke, according to the American Heart Association.

In this study, Fox's team collected data on 9,540 people age 45 to 64, who participated in the Framingham Heart Study, a large population-based study. The researchers used the data to compare risk factors for heart disease and cardiovascular events such as heart attacks from two different time periods. The first group was examined between 1952 and 1974, and the second group was examined between 1975 and 1998, according to the report.

They found that risk for heart disease attributable to type 2 diabetes was 5.2 percent between 1952 and 1974. However, that number jumped to 7.8 percent between 1975 and 1998. The majority of the increased risk occurred among diabetic men. In addition, Fox's group also found that the prevalence of diabetes among those with heart disease almost doubled between the time periods. The prevalence of obesity also increased over time, they found.

The findings echo those from a study published by the same group last June in Circulation. In that study, Fox's team looked over data on more than 3,400 Americans aged 40 to 55 who were also participating in the Framingham study. Following the participants from the 1970s through to the 1990s, Fox and her colleagues found that rates of diabetes have doubled over that period of time.

"In terms of public health, diabetes needs to be more effectively managed with respect to cardiovascular disease management," Fox concluded. "Ultimately, diabetes needs to be prevented," she said. That includes curbing the obesity epidemic, experts say.

Deeb added that while much diabetes is caused by obesity, genetics also plays a role, especially among blacks, Hispanics, and people from South Asia. "There are lots of variables that come into play besides your body mass index," he said.

Another expert agreed that more needs to be done. "This is a very important study that highlights the increased risk for cardiovascular disease that patients with diabetes face," added Dr. Gregg Fonarow, a professor of clinical medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

"There is an urgent need to aggressively treat all patients with diabetes with cardiovascular protective medications, risk factor control, and lifestyle change as recommended in national guidelines," Fonarow said.

Courtesy of HealthDay

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FDA Diet Tips

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recognizes heart disease as the No. 1 cause of death in this country. In order to combat this deadly disease, the FDA recommends the following diet tips for a healthy heart:

• Eat a diet low in saturated fat, especially animal fats and palm and coconut oils.
• Add foods to your diet that are high in monounsaturated fats, such as olive oil, canola oil, and seafood.
• Eat foods containing polyunsaturated fats found in plants and seafood. Safflower oil and corn oil are high in polyunsaturated fats.
• Choose a diet moderate in salt and sodium.
• Maintain or improve your weight.
• Eat plenty of grain products, fruits, and vegetables.

Courtesy of the Food and Drug Administration

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Small Steps are ways you can become heart-healthy without making dramatic lifestyle changes.

1. Don't eat late at night.
2. Skip buffets.
3. Wash the car by hand.
4. Choose fruit for dessert.
5. Don't skip breakfast.
6. Ask for salad dressing "on the side."
7. Make up a batch of brownies with applesauce instead of oil or shortening.
8. Eat before you get too hungry.
9. Flavor foods with herbs, spices, and other low-fat seasonings.
10. Try brown rice or whole wheat pasta.

For more ideas, go to www.smallstep.gov.

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