The Coral Springs-Parkland Fire Department's Peer Fitness Program Aims to Prevent Injury

The Coral Springs-Parkland (Florida) Fire Department takes a four-pronged approach to safety, health, and wellness: mental wellness, rehabilitation, cancer prevention, and the recent addition of injury prevention.

Lifting patients and carrying heavy equipment can take its toll on firefighters/paramedics.

A new peer fitness program focuses on injury prevention, addressing issues such as back pain through improvements in hip mobility, squatting, and arm motion.

A $104,776 FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Grant includes a city of Coral Springs match of $9,525 from the Coral Springs-Parkland Fire Department’s safety and health budget to help the city establish a peer fitness program, which will be piloted over two years.

“It’s very controversial for a lot of fire departments to put investment dollars into something like this – not in the sense that they don't want to, but more that they have focused their dollars into other areas like buying fire trucks,” says Christopher Bator, the department’s division chief for safety and health.

“This is where you're focusing on your employee workforce. This is a really big piece for us to move forward and expand upon where this came from.”

Health & Wellness at Coral-Springs Parkland Fire Department

The Coral Springs-Parkland Fire Department has 200 employees, all of whom with a few exceptions are firefighter/paramedics serving a combined population of more than 163,000.

Ten years ago, the department started annual physicals that served as a baseline. Last year, the department implemented that into collective bargaining.

“All of our firefighters are required to go through an annual physical screening,” Bator says, adding that Jonathan Robbins, battalion chief for safety, health, and wellness takes information people share with him and guides them into areas to obtain further help.

The department has teamed up with the University of Central Florida to help those with mental health issues. To help address cancer issues, the partner is the University of Miami’s Firefighter Cancer Initiative to ensure affected people can obtain the best care as quickly as possible.

Testing the Peer Program

To augment that, the department selected 10 different ranked firefighters on various shifts who were interested in the peer fitness program and put them through training sponsored by the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF).

The month-long program was a blend of online and in-person training, enabling certified participants to work with other firefighter paramedics on issues such as mobility and exercise programs.

“Getting those 10 members certified gave us the ability to ability to apply for this Level 2 FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Grant,” says Robbins.

The city underwent an RFP process, awarding the grant to Virginia-based Functional Movement Systems (FMS).  

FMS founder Lee Burton trained with the department’s peer fitness trainers and then conducted a brief overview with about 150 people in the department to roll out the program.

“He got his start with the U.S. Navy Seals program and he works with the NFL, NBA, the MLB, a lot of military and special forces, so we felt that he was a perfect fit for us,” says Robbins.

Customization in the Program

Robbins says the fitness program is customized to meet individual needs.

“Everyone is at a different stage,” he points out. “We have 20-year-olds working for us and we have 60-year-olds working for us. There’s a broad spectrum and every single workout is different.”

The program addresses injuries – specifically musculoskeletal injuries – and focuses on range of motion.

“We want to be careful not to push these people into something they're not capable of doing,” Robbins says. “We want our people to understand where they're at. Mobility is a big deal.”

Robbins says the FMS founder notes, “You shouldn't squat with weight if you can't squat with your body. It’s all about technique and strengthening areas that need to be strengthened before you start trying to do things with weights and other things.”

Firefighters/paramedics often have to physically remove patients “from weird places, like between the toilet and the bathtub,” Robbins says. “There’s no specific lifting technique that can teach for that.

“But what we can do is strengthen the accessory muscles to be able to pick somebody up from these awkward positions. You are told from day one that you should never lift anything in these positions. The scenarios our people are put in are unavoidable. We try to give them all the tools so that when they are put in these scenarios, they can get their job done.”

Participants first start with a self-screening process through an app that offers scoring on six movements such as flexibility and provides input on how to address areas needing work.

“It’s as simple as can you touch your toes, can you take a piece of paper and pass it over your head from one hand to the other,” Robbins says. “It’s nothing intimidating. Every day, it will send you a workout that you should do.

“You can reach out to a peer fitness trainer and they can do the screening for you. They can either assist you with the app or they can do a little bit of a deeper screening with some of the different tools he gave us.”

Working to Address Employee Concerns

Bator says there had been a concern among employees that the program would be ‘you need me to run up the tower up and down and you're going to time me and if I’m not able to perform my duties, then I’d be pulled off the truck.’ That’s not necessarily what we're at. We’re trying to roll this out in a way that supports their overall health and wellness but also make sure they have the tools necessary to meet those expectations of the job.”

“Our employees who are going to be receiving this are going to be able to work on their own techniques,” he adds. “It’s done through a specific platform as well as hands-on, in-person training facilitated by our peer fitness trainers.”

Bator says peer fitness trainers obtain another level of training adding to what they’ve already received to enhance their ability to train others.

Bator notes FMS has a “very good way of screening basic functional mobility. In the fire service, as a rookie who just came out of the fire academy, you're in great shape. After that, there are really no programs that help sustain that unless it's the employees themselves being accountable for it.

“This is for overall screening, injury prevention, and reducing risks. It’s to have a plan for them so that they can have a long healthy career and a long healthy retirement.”

The program requires a minimal amount of equipment.

“It doesn’t require weights. Sometimes you just need a towel,” Robbins says. “We have PVC pipes they use for stretches. We just bought 75 yoga mats for all of the stations to have. You really have to start off slow. It can’t be intimidating.”

Upgrading Current Equipment

Each fire station already has a gym and Robbins has been working over the past few years to upgrade them.

“The equipment to help support their overall goals is already there,” says Bator. “It’s been (Robbins’) priority over the last couple of years – to make sure we have the equipment necessary for folks to work towards their own personal goals and fitness goals. This platform we're doing now basically sets that foundation of how someone can interact with both the application and with real trainers to help support those goals.”

Robbins says in tracking injuries, he’s noted a large number of off-the-job injuries.

Still, “when somebody comes off the truck, we have to fill it with another person. We can’t just not run the truck. If we can avoid a few of these injuries – whether it be on or off the job – it’s going to be not only an insurance savings and health care cost savings, but overall savings for the city and the fire department with overtime and different things that this causes in the trickle effect.”  

Robbins notes that having tracked the general overtime costs of having someone on modified duty over the past 10 months is significant. While he is cognizant that the program will not bring the number down to zero, “if we can avoid just a few, this program will pay for itself,” he says.

The grant will pay for some of the overtime costs of having peer fitness trainers visit various stations to help people with whatever questions arise.

“Our goal is to monitor this month by month and expand on it,” says Bator. “We’ve had discussions about having a nutritionist come out. There are multiple sides to this beyond the strength in making sure the diets are in line with what is right. In the first responder world, everyone tends to eat fast and doesn't tend to eat well.”

The department and city’s leadership have supported the effort for the safety, health, and wellness of employees, Bator says.

“Last year, we worked through our fire department's strategic plan to make this a priority,” he says. “Our chief was very supportive of it.”

Bator’s advice to other departments seeking to create a similar program is to start with annual overall physicals.

“The overall physical provides the cardiac components we're facing in the fire service and we’re certainly facing the cancer component,” he says. “We're facing the mental health component, and certainly facing the health and fitness component. The NFPA1582 overall physical is a great place to start. Even when you submit for grants, you have to have that in place to even get an acceptance.

“Get aggregate data of your workforce. If issues are playing out like sleep deprivation or cardiac issues, it allows the department to evaluate the needs of the members and work towards some goals to address them.”

Bator says it’s important to know when insurance companies are paying for injuries whether they are work-related or not, the city is covering it.

“We’re paying either way and we're paying a lot of money,” he says. “When we had the opportunity to take an investment like this that was basically through a matching grant that didn't cost the city much money to really put this money to work to prevent those injuries, we’re hoping our return on investment on the back end is really going to show how much we can save the city by investing in health and wellness.”