First Responder Center For Excellence For Reducing Occupation

Health programs - the frce held a health & wellness symposium october 16-18, 2024 in xenia, oh. Participants learned about building resilience, behavioral health wellness, injury prevention, peer support programs, physical fitness, proper nutrition, sleep deprivation, stress, mindfulness, suicide prevention, and more. Over 40 topics were delivered by speakers who are leaders and pioneers in fire service health and wellness. Over 400 participants of the health & wellness symposium gained access to resources, professionals and leaders to take back to their organizations/departments to implement. This included: priorities to develop a total worker health and safety program for firefighters and fire service agencies, how health and wellness can be integrated into departments effectively and what approaches those tasked with building the program can take, how to obtain program buy-in, program outreach and evaluate your impact to stakeholders as well as practical strategies and resources to build or enhance and existing peer support program.

Program development

Public safety outreach, and other programs - stress first aid is a basic but comprehensive approach to embedded peer support specifically derived from the us navy/marine corps combat and operations stress cooperation with the national center for post-traumatic stress disorder (an arm of the veterans administration). This project expands upon initial success by developing and implementing a more accessible and cost-effective web-based delivery platform as well as update content, and to specifically include modules to assist in identifying and addressing suicidal ideation based on an adaptation of the us army's ace model. The project will also include specific elements to support dissemination and assistance with adoption and implementation at the local level.