By Tom Yerace
The Tribune-Review
VANDERGRIFT, Pa. — Fighting fires is a dangerous business, and the danger is amplified if a firefighter’s health is subpar and he or she is unaware of it.
Officials at the George G. McMurtry Fire Department (Vandergrift No. 1) are trying to head off those situations through a new health and wellness program for firefighters.
The office of U.S. Rep Mark Critz, D-Johnstown, notified the company last week that it is receiving an $82,400 Homeland Security grant, more than half of which will be used to start the program.
“Heart attack is the No. 1 killer of firefighters, so that is something we have always been concerned about,” said fire Chief Tom Schaeffer.
The members of Vandergrift No. 1 learned firsthand about that danger in February 2004. The company lost a lifelong member, Richard Gabrielli, a fire policeman, when he died of a heart attack while responding to a blaze at the Allegheny Ludlum plant in Vandergrift.
“If we had had this seven years ago, it might have turned up an underlying medical condition that the member we lost had,” said Scott Held, an assistant chief and company safety officer who authored most of the grant proposal.
“We want to take care of the health of our people proactively, not reactively,” Held said. “If they have one medical condition that they don’t know about because they don’t go to a doctor, if we can save one person, it’s worth the money.”
He said 37 members of the company will receive a fitness evaluation related to the job each does as a firefighter, a package of nine immunizations and a physical at a cost of $750 each. That’s almost $28,000 total. The immunizations include tuberculosis; hepatitis strains A, B and C; tetanus; measles, mumps and rubella; polio; varicella; influenza; and an HIV screening.
The grant proposal, to which the company must contribute a 10 percent match, includes money for a computer and software for a medical database, Schaeffer said.
The idea is to create a medical baseline for company members through which their health can be tracked with the computer equipment, he said.
In addition, the grant will pay for a $10,000 device that will test the fit of face masks on breathing devices used by firefighters. It also will be used to buy 16 new portable radios.
“This is kind of innovative,” Schaeffer said. “I won’t say it’s a new thing, but it is something that is coming to light more and more now.”
“It is a very progressive movement on the part of that department to ensure the health of their firefighters,” said Arnold fire Chief J.C. Tedorski, president of the Western Pennsylvania Firemen’s Association. “They are taking a huge step to make sure that everyone does go home to their families.”
Held could not say whether Vandergrift No. 1 is the only company with such a program.
Other departments may be conducting such health screenings in a piecemeal fashion due to the cost, he said.
“It is very expensive for fire departments to do this,” he said.
The bottom line is simple, according to Schaeffer and Held: making sure everyone returns home after a fire call in the same condition in which they responded.
“You don’t want people doing things if they are not healthy enough to do them,” Schaeffer said.
“We may find in some cases that a person who thinks they still are capable of donning equipment and entering a building may have to take on a different role.” Held said.
He conceded that some company members may not have totally bought into the plan, but eventually they must.
“We’ve had a lot of members be leery of what may be uncovered,” Held said. “There’s not going to be an option for this. If they want to continue to be members of our department, they are going to have to go through the screenings and to get the immunizations recommended by the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association).”
One other part of the program is the formation of a health and safety committee to oversee the program and find ways to pay for it when the grant runs out at the end of the year, Schaeffer and Held said.
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