Developing a wellness program.

[Joker305]

My department is in the process of developing a wellness program and I'm curious to know what other departments do about physicals, both pre-entry and annual. I've read NFPA 1582, but I'm still not clear on how to go about this. Is there a standard pre-entry physical? Do we need to develop a "firefighter specific" form for the individual to take with them when they get the physical? How indepth should we be? Should it be a pass/fail or more flexible? Really what I'm looking for is to see examples what other places are doing and hopefully I can glean what I need from that. Any advice you can offer is appreciated. Thanks.

[MikeE-631]

We have (like most places, I suppose...) a physical at time of employment, then once a year during the month of your birthday. That way it's spread out over the year, not everyone going at the same time.
For a wellness program, we have a "health stride" program. Here's how it works: Participants (this is voluntary) get a special calendar and a list of rewarded activities with corresponding point system. E.g., for running you get 25 pts per mile, for weights 25 pts per 30 min, for blood pressure check 25 pts (max. 1 time per month), and so on. You write down your activity in the calendar with the points. This runs for a quarter year. Then you add up all your points. For certain amounts of points you get rewarded with vacation time, maxed out at 2000 pts for 6 hrs vacation. If you didn't use any sick time in that quarter, your reward is doubled!!! This is a very nice program that motivates you and rewards a healty life style! You might think this could be abused. In my experience, people have been very honest about it, no real cheating going on. A win-win situation!:D

Regards,

Mike