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Permalink Reply by Fabulous Heather Days of Summer on July 9, 2011 at 12:29am

The attachment is a form I use on a clipboard for rehab.

There is a space for each FF, (see sample lines) and details for the event and places for the officers to come check on the overall status of their crew.

Attachments:

• Rehab Worksheet.doc, 49 KB

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Permalink Reply by David Hubble on July 9, 2011 at 8:32am

Thank you for the help, I will review the form later today.

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Permalink Reply by Fabulous Heather Days of Summer on July 9, 2011 at 4:43pm

We actually use 8-10 pages, or more, of these per event and we file them in the fit log back at the station to demonstrate that we are monitoring the well-being of our crew.

Interestingly, we seem to have guys take better care of themselves at calls, than they do at drills. Perhaps they push themselves harder or farther at drills, or the adrenaline and body's emergency response management is different. Either way, we found that the crew needed extra special attention at drills, compared to calls - vitals are often more stable at calls, than at drills. At a couple of drills, we charted vitals on all staff prior to starting the drill, then throughout and at the end to monitor recovery rates.

We also are not so avid with setting up a food and water station at drills, which may impact the results. At calls someone is appointed to walk around and ensure everyone is ok, and even take them drinks, etc., while still at their post - and make recommendations to shift someone to a lighter duty task - we started increasing this practice at drills too.

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Permalink Reply by David Hubble on July 9, 2011 at 4:50pm

One problem we run into is firefighters dont WANT to go to rehab... or they think rehab is just drinking water..

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Permalink Reply by Fabulous Heather Days of Summer on July 9, 2011 at 4:54pm

One of my chiefs died on scene from a cardiac incident outside of the bldg on fire.

So our officers, especially Chiefs push rehab is not an option - it is required.

So your issue is more of an incident command issue, than an individual FF matter. Our officers don't make it optional.

And remember, someone with heat exhaustion is not thinking clearly and therefore can not evaluate rehab usage clearly either.

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Permalink Reply by David Hubble on July 9, 2011 at 4:56pm

Yeah, more firefighters die after the calls is said and done... we are currently trying to restructure our rehab program

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Permalink Reply by Fabulous Heather Days of Summer on July 9, 2011 at 5:03pm

sometimes we do some rehab as mobile, such as walking around the scene with a gallon of water and cups or a pile of water/gatorade bottles and handing them out to people, while they are still at their exterior duty posts like running hoseline, or doing overhaul, or directing traffic, or managing water supply, etc. etc. etc.

And those who mumble, I have no problem saying at least put the water bottle in your pocket of your coat so you have it in a few minutes when you need it. And I have no problem using blackmail - hee hee - such as "you wife will kill me if you pass out on scene because you were not drinking enough water or eating something!"

And when I walk around, I have no problem reporting back to my chief/officers if I see a FF that is under an extreme workload - and clearly needs a rest - so if they don't want to do it because I asked them to - then I get an officer to order them to take a break. But after I was on the dept for a few years, the old guys quit whining and giving me a hard time and just listened and complied when I told them to take a break, since they knew I was not playing. Such as "you are doing your job, and I am doing mine - and no one is going to say I am not doing MY job because you are willing to work yourself to death! Now go take a break !!!"

And if one of my chiefs or officers HAD to GO TELL a FF to GO to rehab, after I already asked them - my officers wouuld be pissed, saying "I ORDERED HEATHER TO COME GET YOU, SO YOU WILL GO TO REHAB NOW!"

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