FitResponder: Coming Soon to HVA

Thursday this week, the line officers and training staff participated in a program designed to help all of our providers. It

was a train the trainer session on how to stay loose and some pretty neat ways to lift that will save our backs. In the

coming days or so we will be rolling out some portions of the program to all the staff members. I will share a personal

story in hopes the value of this program will be understood.

I began my EMS and Fire career in 1978 as a volunteer with Gates ambulance and Gates fire department. In 1995 I had

back surgery for a ruptured disc at L4 and 5. I then had 10 years of PT and Chiropractic care before most of the pain

went away. I still have pain today, but it’s manageable with Advil as needed. How did I injure my back? Lifting a patient

or rescuing a person from a second story window? Nope, bending over to pick up a wrench on the floor. I was the classic

example of repetitive motion injury to my back. I was fortunate, because it was not a career ending back injury. I’m

looking forward to sharing these simple tricks and techniques to improve not only your safety, but the safety of the

patients and hopefully avoiding you having to endure back surgery and PT.