FEMA grant awarded to reduce obesity, CVD among volunteer firefighters

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has awarded the University of Texas Health Science Center a $1.5 million grant to examine the effectiveness of an online program aimed at improving volunteer firefighters’ nutrition and fitness and to reduce the risk of obesity and cardiovascular disease, according to a university press release.

“Volunteer firefighters comprise the majority of the US fire service, yet they are harder to reach than career firefighters for health interventions because they have full time jobs, fire service training requirements and on-call duties,” R. Sue Day, PhD, associate professor in the division of epidemiology, human genetics and environmental sciences at the UTHealth School of Public Health, said in the release.

According to Day, CVD is the leading cause of firefighter death in the line of duty with 78% of firefighters having overweight or obesity.

The program, called The First Twenty (TF20), aims to educate and change behaviors involving fitness and nutrition among volunteer firefighters. Designed by a volunteer firefighter, TF20 will include nutrition information, video workouts, food logs and personalized updates or challenges. Goals can be set and food intake can also be logged to evaluate progress.

Volunteer firefighters will be recruited from across the country for a 6-month intervention period and TF20 can be accessed by phone, computer, tablet or CD when internet access is limited.

Health coaches will be available to offer advice and encouragement throughout the study period. Team activities will also be conducted either in person or through internet communication.

“The team-oriented culture of fire service is very much embedded in this program,” Day said in the release.