For the first time, all 1,800 Baltimore fire personnel will undergo departmentwide health tests during a wellness project that officials hope will become a yearly event.
Next week, Professional Health Services vans will begin conducting screenings — including hearing, vision, pulmonary and heart — at five department operations in the city.
he Fire Department will get aggregate data after testing is complete, though individual results will be kept between patients and physicians.
"We will get a good picture of the health of the department in general," said Fire Chief James S. Clack, who will be among the first to undergo the testing. "If there are major issues with our personnel, we will be able to tell."
The newest of the screening vans, which is 71 feet long, parked in City Hall Plaza on Tuesday to show department officials.
The vehicle is soundproof and compartmentalized for privacy, and is equipped with a digital X-ray, an EKG and a centrifuge to expedite blood processing. The facility can handle about six patients an hour, whose assessments will conclude in a conference with a physician.
Read the entire thing HERE. For more on firefighter fitness, read Mike Krueger's column at Fire Life.
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