Category: Plan Your Health

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Police Primary and Secondary Danger

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A finalized report of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund website shows a total of 129 police officer fatalities in 2012. Of these, 52 are specified as “traffic-related”. This is in contrast to 49 officer deaths specified as “firearms-related”. The remaining 28 officer deaths are attributed to “other causes.” This is a reported decline of 22% compared to 2011, when 165 officers died in the line of duty (72 firearms-related, 60 traffic-related, 33 other causes).

These fatalities are representative of the primary danger of policing. The primary danger of policing is comprised of the inherent risks of the job, such as working in motor vehicle traffic, confronting violent persons, and exposure to traumatic incidents.

Sadly, there is an insidious and lesser known secondary danger in policing. This danger is often… Continue reading

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Be Happy and Healthy in 2013

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So, now it’s February, what are you waiting for?

Right after the New Year many of us as police officers and other law enforcement professionals take this time to self-access our fitness, our lives and our well being. Sometimes, however we procrastinate, so I want to give you a little kick start to get you going with positive commitments for this coming year.

Law enforcement career survival takes a plan and a concerted effort. Let’s discuss some ideas to help you put together your wellness plan for 2013.

Over the last year we have witnessed many good things and many tragedies. Some things are beyond our immediate control but you and I have the ability to take control of our own fitness, our own emotional and spiritual well being. This balance is the key to a productive and more positive lifestyle both on and off duty as a law enforcement professional.

As a Law Enforcement Officer and there are many of us with different titles and responsibilities who are tasked with maintaining public order, public safety and enforcing the laws and regulations of our jurisdictions. We also uphold the public’s rights and freedoms under the U.S. Constitution. We are the Honorable Profession, one that the public entrusts us to uphold our justice system and provide assistance to many in need every day.

As members of this honorable profession we need to be emotionally and physically fit.

We must uphold our professional behavior within difficult situations and with the challenging… Continue reading

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How is Your Body Mass Index or BMI?

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Law enforcement officers need to monitor and maintain their bodies just as they would care for any other piece of tactical equipment like their vehicle or weapon.

Tracking your body mass index is one part of that process.  BMI is a measure of body fat based on height and weight that applies to adult men and women.

You can CLICK HERE to use a quick BMI calculator from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services lists the categories for BMI as:

Underweight = <18.5
Normal weight = 18.5–24.9
Overweight = 25–29.9
Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater

Use their quick online calculator to find out where you are by CLICKING HERE to see what your BMI is.

If you work in law enforcement you should know, and monitor your body mass index.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control “Body Mass Index (BMI) is a number… Continue reading

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Transcendental Meditation Helps Cop With PTSD

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PTSD, coupled with our fear and ignorance about it, is becoming one of the most pressing issues in law enforcement. We promise to “take care of our own” and we need to start doing it. Don’t be afraid, and don’t be ignorant about PTSD. Educate yourself about this problem so that we will truly never leave anyone behind!

Our thanks go out again to Deborah Louise Ortiz and her husband Michael for what they are doing to help cops. You might remember CopsAlive.com wrote about them in January as they began fundraising to produce the film “Code 9 Officer Needs Assistance”. They are continuing to work on their film and these two videos are their testimonials on Transcendental Meditation (TM) and about how it has helped them both as Michael manages his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

There are two versions of this excellent… Continue reading

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Energy: You either Have it or Want More of it

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Law enforcement officers need the proper nutrition and hydration to give them the energy required to handle the tough challenges of police work.

Police Officers are juggling many different jobs. If you are a cop then you are an enforcer, defender, protector, social worker, friend, mother/father, sister/brother, aunt/uncle, grandmother/grandfather, daughter/son, student, chef, chauffeur, sports coach, business owner, accountant, personal secretary and landscaper. I am sure that I missed a few of our everyday duties but this is what consisted of a day in the Life of a Philadelphia Police Officer when I was on the force not so long ago.

So where do you get the Energy to be able to… Continue reading

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The Police Officer Wellness Evaluation Response© (P.O.W.E.R.) Survey

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Please take a few minutes to take the Police Officer Wellness Evaluation Response© (P.O.W.E.R.) Survey. It takes about 5 minutes, is completely confidential, and is for LEO’s ONLY. They need your help to spread the word as they are looking for 1,000 responses.

CLICK HERE to link to the survey

The Police Officer Wellness Evaluation Response© (P.O.W.E.R.) Survey is designed to collect data and measure “holistic wellness” of law enforcement personnel nationwide. This multi-dimensional approach will address: physical wellness, emotional wellness, psychological wellness, and spiritual wellness. Each area of wellness, though independent, work interdependently, to provide a better… Continue reading

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Sugar – The Other “White Powder”

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Editors Note: We are proud to welcome Christa Cassilis-Hayburn as a new contributor to CopsAlive.com. Christa was a police officer with the Philadelphia Police Department for 11 years until she was forced to leave the job due to chronic pain from an on the job injury. Today Christa leads a healthy, relatively pain-free lifestyle and teaches others how to do the same. In this installment Christa will tell us about the dangers of too much sugar in our diets.

How much Sugar do you think you consume in ONE day?

Police officers and other law enforcement professionals have had a love affair with sugar and caffeine for centuries. A cop with a cup of coffee and donut is the stereotypic image used to typecast law enforcement officers. In this article I want give you an alternative to that nutritional choice and help you find something that will get you through your shift and help you survive the rigors of your career in law enforcement.

Here is another question that will really make you think… Are you ADDICTED to Sugar?

Like heroin, cocaine and caffeine, sugar is an addictive, destructive drug, yet we consume it daily in everything from cigarettes to bread -William Dufty, author of Sugar Blues.

How dare I ask such a question like that but I certainly remember those days where I “knew” that I needed to eat Sugar just to wake me up mid afternoon.

When I went into the police academy I never drank a cup of coffee in my life. After a few months on the job, I was drinking one to two 16 ounce cups of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee. Here was the order that I gave: “Medium coffee with X-tra –X-tra”. That’s right Extra Creamer and Extra Sugar. Did I have any idea what Sugar would do to me in the long run? NO Clue!

As law enforcement officers we need to… Continue reading

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BCOPS STUDY INDICATES POLICE WORK MAY HAVE ADVERSE EFFECT ON HEALTH

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The University of Buffalo has released information from the 5 year police population based study, Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Occupational Police Stress (BCOPS) which is being conducted by Dr. John Violanti,Ph.D of their School of Public Health and Health Professions.

Dr. Violanti is a retired New York State Trooper and one of the best researchers in Law Enforcement Health.

This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health indicates that the daily psychological stresses that police officers experience in their work put them at significantly higher risk than the general population for many long-term physical and mental health effects.

The research will be released in a special issue of the International Journal of Emergency Mental Health which reveals the connections of daily police work stress, obesity, suicide, sleep disorders and cancer. The study indicates… Continue reading

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Today is PTSD Awareness Day

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Today is PTSD Awareness Day in the United States.  Please visit the website for the National Center for PTSD to learn more about this terrible disorder that affects many law enforcement officers around the world.

Click on these links to learn more:
http://www.ptsd.va.gov/about/ptsd-awareness/ptsd_awareness_month.asp
http://www.ptsd.va.gov/about/ptsd-awareness/12_ways_to_help.asp

An important question for us is how many of us in law enforcement have the symptoms… Continue reading

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Do You Have PTSD?

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Do you have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?  It’s alarming how many people in law enforcement may be suffering with it.  I know that when I took a PTSD indicator survey two years after I retired I scored a lot higher than I had expected. I’ve read lots of conflicting statistics about how many police officers have or could have the symptoms of PTSD, but statistics can be misleading just as much as ignorance of the issues of mental wellness.  Some of you may not meet the criteria for the diagnosis but are still suffering from the effects of excessive or un-managed stress.

The important question is how many of us in law enforcement have the symptoms of PTSD or other types of distress and those symptoms are causing problems with our work or home life. More importantly how many of us are not working to manage these problems because of fear of losing a job or being rejected as weak by our peers.

Get Help Now – Call “Safe Call Now” it’s confidential 206-459-3020

What is PTSD?

A brief description of the diagnostic criteria… Continue reading