Staying Healthy in the #1stresponder World...

By Sgt. Mark St. Hilaire - Rescue Team Wellness

Recently I had the honor to present at the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association 2015 Conference in Chicago.  This year’s conference brought close to 800 law enforcement and military professionals and trainers from around the world. 

This year, SAFE CALL NOW® was included in the 6 day of the best training on topics of self-defense, tactical training, legal issues, and inter-personal communications.  The topic that has expanded over the past several years is officer health and wellness.  Capt. Brian Nanavaty who is the Education Director for SAFE CALL NOW and a well-respected member of ILEETA did a great job educating our peers about SAFE CALL NOW along with members of his staff from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Office of Professional Development and Police Wellness. The Advisory Board of ILEETA created booth space in the conference exposition hall for SAFE CALL NOW. A special thanks to ILEETA’s Director, Harvey Hedden for this opportunity.

The ILEETA Advisory Board has been very open and cooperative with a dedicated work group that is continuing to develop a Basic Health and Wellness Curriculum for any law enforcement trainer to use to help educate and change the culture not only in law enforcement but all areas of public safety professionals.  I am grateful to retired officers, John Marx of Colorado (www.copsalive.com); Mark Sherwood of Oklahoma (www.live4c.com) and Colonel Robert “Coach” Lindsey formerly of Louisiana who have encouraged me along with hundreds of peers at ILEETA and world-wide to help educate our brothers and sisters of the real threats to our health, safety and well-being on and off duty.

My presentation at ILEETA was an overview of the real dangers facing law enforcement today.  

According to the Officer Down Memorial Page (www.ODMP.org) between March 2014 and April 12, 2015

The top 3 causes of Line of Duty Law Enforcement Deaths in the U.S. were:

1.       Gunfire which took 52 lives

2.       Vehicle crashes which took 52 lives

3.       Heart Attacks (health related) which took 25 lives

5 Values that Empower Personal Leaders...

By Safe Call Now®'s Steve Gutzler

I often take first responders, teams and personal leaders through a values clarification exercise. You start by listing to all the values that are vitally important to you. For example:

• Life-balance
• Spiritual peace
• Health and vitality
• Personal drive
• Goal-setting
• Family relationships
• Recreation
• Personal development
• Friendships
• Dreaming big
• Being purpose driven
• Humility
• Lifestyle quality
• Adventure

Sometimes the list grows to over 25 values. Then you narrow it down to your top 15, then your top ten, and finally your top 5 values. It is powerful to watch a first responder, person or a team decide what values they will embrace, what they will live for and what they will die for. 

Those values come from the core of their beliefs and faith. I won't address those here, because I believe you must wrestle them down personally.

Instead, I'd like to suggest five values that empower personal leaders:

Fitness for Duty... Not a Career Enahncer...

By Safe Call Now® President & Founder - Sean Riley

I always enjoy seeing my dear friend and co-presenter Forensic Police Psychologist Dr. Laura Brodie (I’ll talk about her later).  As many first responders know, being ordered to visit the psychologist is usually not a career enhancer.  First off they’re usually sub-contracted by the department and the perception is that they may be biased on the side of the department because that’s who’s paying the bill.  Right, wrong or indifferent the door is wide open to challenge this and the first responder knows that some kind of report is going back to their agency.

With that in mind, do you really think the first responder is going to reveal their deepest, darkest secrets that may jeopardize his/her employment and their ability to provide for their family?  Hence the double edged sword.  If I do reveal myself I could potentially be impacted in a negative manner with my employment.  If I don’t, I suffer inside.  Either way it’s a system set up to fail.  There are going to be a lot of police psychologist out there that are going to “rip” me over this post but I can only tell you about my experiences and those that are reported to me throughout the country by first responders and their experiences with you.

I speak at many conferences and we address the departmental psychologist at great length.  The overall consensus from the first responders is that you’re not trusted, you’re arrogant, egotistical and the only job of the first responder is to “beat you” in all aspects of the session.  Let me explain further.

What's Up Doc?

By Sgt. Mark St. Hilaire - Rescue Team Wellness

My brothers and Sisters, as we move ahead towards better health and fitness, we must begin with a crucially important visit to our primary care physician.  Now I am surprised when some of you admit that you don’t have a primary care doctor.  This is the one person we really must depend on for our health and well-being especially in our high stress, injury prone careers as first responders.

My initial point of visiting your physician is for a complete physical exam before we make changes in our eating plans, exercise routines or added performance of work duties. We want to ensure there will not be any negative repercussions to our health during these undertakings.

The real point is that all of us need to visit our primary care doctor at a minimum annually especially as we age.  Many first responders face many health challenges in their duties which affect our health.  We want to establish a health baseline with our doctor so we have an idea of normal especially when we feel ill or may be injured.

There are many areas that we need include in our physical exam: General health, cardio, lungs and circulation, our bones and muscles, neurological functioning, skin exam, blood and body fluids testing and a new undertaking many primary care doctors inquiring about our mental health and possible depression.

3 Habits of Lasting Leaders...

By Safe Call Now®'s Steve Gutzler

Before I share the three habits, I'd like to remind you that every day, leaders must wake up and lead themselves before they lead anyone else. Others depend on us, and because of that we must keep the fire burning within us.   

We must:

• Know where we are going - Our Vision
• Know why we are going there - Our Motivation
• Know how we can help others - Our Leadership

 

To stay energized and on course - leaders can sustain themselves by:

1. The Habit of Passion -

Your passion will give you two distinctive traits: energy and credibility. Pioneering aviator Charles Lindbergh said, "It is the greatest shot of adrenaline to be doing what you have wanted to so badly. You almost feel like you could fly without the plane."

When you love what you do and do what you love, others find it inspiring. I also believe it's the job of the leader to turn up the passion – the energy – the emotion.

My challenge: today show more passion and heart for those who serve and lead!

#1stresponder Self-Leadership Tip... Health & Fitness

By Safe Call Now®'s Steve Gutzler

One of the most valuable principles of self-leadership is physical self-care. In the past, I under-appreciated the impact my choices in food consumption, drinking water, and exercise impacted how I showed up day-to-day. Now it is one of my daily disciplines. 

Here are the three most valuable benefits of regular exercise and good nutrition: 

• Energy replacement - When I work out I actually gain more energy
• Stress reduction - It has become the #1 stress management tool in my arsenal
• Immune system builder - A healthy lifestyle has allowed me to stay strong in the face of a rigorous  schedule 

Last Fall, my coaching clients and I embarked on a 21 Day Challenge inspired by the Daniel Plan,  written by Rick Warren, and I'd like to share some of the science behind the challenge with you. 

There are four key hormones the drive brain chemistry and control our appetite and metabolism. If you get these hormones under control, all the rest often resets automatically: 

Rescue Team Wellness

Sgt. Mark St. Hilaire - Rescue Team Wellness

Recently I had the honor to present at the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association (ILEETA) 2015 Conference in Chicago.  This year’s conference brought close to 800 law enforcement and military professionals and trainers from around the world. 

This year, Safe Call Now® was included in the 6 days of the best training on topics of self-defense, tactical training, legal issues, and inter-personal communications.  The topic that has expanded over the past several years is officer health and wellness.  Capt. Brian Nanavaty who is the Education Director for Safe Call Now® and a well-respected member of ILEETA did a great job educating our peers about Safe Call Now® along with members of his staff from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Office of Professional Development and Police Wellness. The Advisory Board of ILEETA created booth space in the conference exposition hall for Safe Call Now®. A special thanks to ILEETA’s Director, Harvey Hedden for this opportunity.