Tools for Departments
Everyone agrees: Getting and staying healthy is a great idea. It is especially important for firefighters and EMS providers, whose intense jobs put their bodies under tremendous stress. But there's a gap between knowing that health is important and actually getting these first responders to change their attitudes and behaviors. The following tools can help you bridge that gap and get your department started on a healthier, stronger life. These tools are simple, periodically updated, and can start making a difference today.
- Adopt the Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program at the department level. Once you register your department, you will have access to tools including the Department Pledge to get healthy, a toolkit for securing sponsors for a department health and wellness program, a guide for establishing and implementing a successful department health and wellness program, and much more.
- Get fit as a team by encouraging all department members to take the Fired Up For Fitness Challenge.
- Is your department at its B.E.S.T? Learn the NVFC's Volunteer Firefighter Health and Safety Priorities and download the B.E.S.T. Practices poster to hang up at your station to keep these priorities in the minds of your personnel.
- Plan activities for National Firefighter Health Week to get your department members focused on health or renew your personnel's commitment to maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
- Cooking at the fire station doesn’t have to mean sacrificing good nutrition. Use the Heart-Healthy Firefighter Cookbook to find easy, delicious recipes that the whole station can enjoy.
- Teach your department members how to assess their risk of heart disease, how to reduce that risk, and how to get the help they need.
- Share inspirational stories of how others have succeeded in their heart-health goals.
- Give the food pyramid a permanent place in your department's kitchen or eating area.
- Review all the facts about on-the-job health risks.
- Establish a Fire Corps program in your department (or utilize your existing Fire Corps program) and task these non-emergency volunteers with establishing and implementing a fitness and health program for the department.
- Link to the Heart-Healthy Firefighter audio public service announcement from your department's web site. This message from former NFL player Erron Kinney can help motivate your personnel and inform the public of the importance of firefighter health.