Participate in Firefighter Cardiac Event Training Development

March 21, 2016

The combination of strenuous work, heavy and encapsulating personal protective equipment (PPE), hot and hostile fire conditions, and high adrenaline levels leads to significant cardiovascular strain during firefighting. As NIOSH reports, in a typical year, more than 100 firefighters die in the line of duty, and by far the leading cause of line-of-duty deaths is sudden cardiac events.

To help combat these alarming statistics, New York University (NYU) is developing a web-based interactive training module to educate firefighters about the physiological impacts of firefighting. You can help with this important project. NYU is interested in learning more about volunteer firefighters who suffered or died during a cardiac event. Survivors or surviving families and friends will be filmed.

This Advanced Learning Through Integrated Visual Environments (ALIVE) training module will focus on improving their understanding of the individual factors that predispose firefighters to a high risk for injury and cardiac death, how firefighting may serve as a trigger for cardiac events, and strategies and techniques that are effective in reducing cardiovascular strain. This training will help firefighters improve their cardiovascular health and, in the long-term, may reduce nationwide firefighter injuries and deaths due to sudden cardiac events.

To lend your story to this project, please contact Prabodh Panindre, Sr. Research Scientist and Project Manager at NYU Polytechnic Institute, at prabodh@nyu.edu, or Chief Ulie Seal, Bloomington (MN) Fire Department, at useal@BloomingtonMN.gov.