Michael Bonner
MassLive.com, Springfield, Mass.
DUXBURY, Mass. — A small town in Massachusetts is pioneering a way to better protect firefighter across the country.
The Duxbury Fire Department on Friday announced that it became the first in the country to provide its members with biometric rings.
“I just wanted to give the men and women another tool to keep them healthy,” Duxbury fire chief Kevin Nord said in a statement.
The rings, purchased from Oura, track firefighters’ vital signs including pulse, temperature and sleep cycles. The rings analyze each firefighters’ baseline temperature and can detect even the slightest changes. The data can be accessed from an individual’s smart phone.
The data will allow the department to assess when firefighters are run down or susceptible to illness, the department said.
The rings cost for the department was less than $300 per ring. They were issued on a voluntary basis, but more than 90% of the staff chose to wear them.
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