The National Volunteer Fire Council has launched a new initiative to encourage departments and first responders to focus on their health. Departments and individuals can now adopt the Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program to access the information, resources, and tools they need to get and stay healthy, including a fitness challenge, toolkit for securing health and wellness program sponsors, interactive message board, and much more.
Heart attack is the number one cause of firefighter line-of-duty deaths each year, and now is the time to take the necessary steps to ensure you do not become a statistic. To adopt the program, register your department at www.healthy-firefighter.org/atp. This enables all of your department members to register as individuals under your department. Each individual registrant will be asked to sign a pledge to focus on their health.
Registrants can then participate in the Fired Up for Fitness Challenge, post success stories and photos, find tools to make healthy living even easier, and utilize many other resources in the areas of nutrition, fitness, and overall health. In addition, adopting the program connects you to a network of first responders from across the country who have also made the commitment to become heart-healthy. Utilize the message board to ask questions and share best practices and tips.
As part of the initiative, the NVFC has re-launched the Fired Up For Fitness Challenge with many exciting new components. In addition to tracking your fitness hours, you will now be challenged to meet certain fitness goals over the course of a year. As you reach each benchmark, you will receive a reward to keep you motivated and recognize your hard work.
The NVFC has also developed a toolkit to assist emergency service departments in approaching and securing sponsors to support a departmental health and wellness program. Securing Sponsors for Department Health and Wellness Programs takes departments through the steps needed to identify, reach out to, and follow up with potential sponsors and donors. The toolkit contains sample letters, customizable templates, talking points, tips, and ideas to make reaching out to and following up with sponsors as easy and straight-forward as possible.
Adopt the program today at www.healthy-firefighter.org and find all of these resources and many others. It takes a person with heart to do your job. Keep it strong for yourself, your loved ones, and your community by adopting the Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program.