Functional Medicine for First Responders

For men and women who serve as first responders— our firefighters, law enforcement officers, and EMTs— serious and high-risk occupational health impacts are often left unaddressed. Sadly, the consequences of these occupational traumas are often deadly.

See what we’re doing about it

fire fighter

Suicide Kills More Firefighters and Law Enforcement Officers Each Year than Other Line-of-duty Deaths.(1, 2)

5x

PTSD and depression rates among firefighters and police officers have been found to be as much as five times higher than that of the general population.(3)

40%

40% of police officers and firefighters are obese and 80% are overweight.(4) Occupational hazards like stress, sleep disruption, and shift work play a key role.

Firefighters

Firefighters face a 9% increase in cancer diagnoses, and a 14% increase in cancer-related deaths, compared to the U.S. general population.(5)

 

70%

Cancer causes 70% of line-of-duty deaths for firefighters over their entire career.(5)

#1

A heart attack is the #1 killer of on-duty firefighters.(6)

firefighters spraying fire with water
two police officers standing in front of patrol cars

Law Enforcement

40%

40% of law enforcement officers have a sleep disorder, almost double the rate of the general population.(7, 8)

69x

Sudden cardiac death accounts for up to 10% of all U.S. on-duty law enforcement deaths. Risk of sudden cardiac death is up to 69X higher during high stress duties.(9)

Our Approach

CCFM created the Protect Wellness program to combat the cycle of unaddressed trauma, illness, and death by improving the overall health and wellness of first responders nationwide. Given the unique job-related stresses and exposures to trauma, first responders are at high risk for developing PTSD, depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts and behaviors, sleep disorders, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. It is critical that first responders have access to the education, support, and technology needed to protect their wellbeing, so they can continue to protect us.

police-fire-badge-icon

Identified Exposures and Toxins Relevant to the First Responder Industry

Through personalized, collaborative, data-driven insights, our comprehensive care team is able to leverage the best of health technologies to provide you real-time decision-making and the best care.

  • We believe that food is medicine. That’s why our Whole Foods Nutritional Reset Module is a foundational part of our program.  We teach you how simple choices can have profound effects on inflammation, immune function, and your body’s ability to detox from toxic exposures.

  • The schedule and demands of your chosen career mean that you will experience disrupted sleep and circadian rhythm. To help mitigate the risks of shift work, we provide you and your team with proactive education, coaching, support, and cutting edge technology to optimize your sleep.

  • As a first responder, you and your team members routinely put yourselves in harm's way to protect the rest of society. The cumulative toll of stressful experiences builds over time, and research shows a clear connection to heart disease, cancer, brain disorders, suicide, and many other health conditions. We teach you simple and effective techniques to measure and decrease stress across many different spheres of life. With regular practice you will increasingly be able to shift your physiology on demand and function at your peak.

  • As a firefighter and first responder, you face significant occupational and environmental exposures to carcinogens. We help you decrease your risk of cancer through prevention education and comprehensive lifestyle change. We teach you to identify proven carcinogens, support you in making meaningful changes, and help you live an "anti-cancer" life.

  • Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of on-duty death for firefighters and police officers, and more than 70% of first responders are overweight. We combine education with coaching, technology, and cutting-edge advances in the science of health behavior change to facilitate success.

  • The rate of suicide, PTSD, and depression are much higher for first responders than that of the general population. Our program leverages cutting edge technology, neuroplasticity training, biofeedback, and peer support to help boost resilience and lower the toll from cumulative trauma exposure.

  • As a first responder, you are an industrial athlete.  Your work requires high physical performance from your body, frequently on short notice and with high intensity burst activity. Common injuries include shoulder, neck, back, hips, and knees.

  • Physical training and movement education must include strength as well as exercises that are restorative and build resilience, in order to perform at your best and avoid dangerous injuries. To facilitate optimal physical performance, we place emphasis on core strengthening, mobility, and workouts that protect your body from costly injuries.

Results That Speak For Themselves

 

When we began our wellness program with the Berkeley Fire Department (BFD) in 2016, we had big goals in mind. We wanted to build a program that could be a model for not just the BFD, but for fire departments at large. So, we built our program to:

  • Improve physical, emotional, and spiritual resilience.
  • Reduce work-comp injuries and the number of sick days.
  • Increase mental and physical well-being and performance.
  • Reduce the risk of cancer and toxin exposure.
  • Improve sleep and minimize the toll of circadian disruption.
  • Reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
  • Reduce the toll of acute and chronic stress, anxiety, and trauma.
  • Decrease frequency and incidence of suicide.

As a first responder, our society relies on you to protect us. In gratitude, CCFM is proud to offer the Protect Wellness program to help protect you. Protect Wellness combines cutting edge functional medicine, health coaching, and technology with data science, and the science of health behavior change. Our singular goal is to help you live the longest and healthiest life possible.

With Protect Wellness, Participants Demonstrated

 

8

Beats per minute (9%) decrease in resting heart rate

22%

Increase in heart rate variability (HRV)

36%

Increase in deep sleep

35%

Decrease in the time it took to fall asleep

28%

Decreased in perceived stress 

20%

Decrease in body fat mass in pounds

16%

Decrease in body fat percentage

0.3%

Decrease in hemoglobin A1C

Fire Departments We Have Worked With

2019-01-29-11-01-49-600x500
firefighters posing with jaws of life
firefirghter group photo
ccfmed team plus firefighters group photos
first responders attending meeting
firefighter group photo in front of sunset

Organizations We Support

 

blue help logo
52 club logo
center for fire rescue and ems health research logo
FCSN logo
baylor scott and white health logo

Learn More About Our First Responder Program

We are passionate about helping to protect those who protect us, and we work with first responders across the nation. Our unique program is built for teams large and small, is easily scalable, and can be implemented as a pilot or a large scale departmental intervention. We look forward to answering any questions you have.

Thank you for protecting our communities. We can help protect you.