1

Unit 9 Assignment: Final Project

Shane Spaulding

Purdue University Global

HW410 Stress-Critical Issues in Management and Prevention

Tywanna Purkett

November 2nd 2022

Unit 9 Assignment: Final Project

Building a stress management and prevention program is essential for optimal workplace

wellness and to keep employees supported and engaged with the implementation of a healthy

environment. The impact of workplace health programs includes leading to change at both the

individual and organization level as previously stated, these programs have the potential to

significantly improve the employee’s health such as reducing unhealthy behaviors, reduce the

percentage for developing illness and disease, and reducing stress and promoting stress

management and prevention (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d.). Workplace

wellness programs have the potential to impact areas such as reducing health care costs,

absenteeism from employees, increased productivity, as well as recruitment and retention of

employees and most importantly creating a healthy culture and increased employee morale. The

best part is that every part of a community including employers, workers, and their families all

benefit from the prevention of illness, stress reduction, and disease as well as injury from

sustaining a healthy lifestyle. This workplace wellness program is to address acute stress, stress

reduction, and stress management as well as improve current health status and promote healthy

lifestyle changes and habits for current firefighters/EMTs/Paramedics with also increasing the

longevity of livelihood and health promotion post retirement. I chose this targeted population

based on my personal occupation and the knowledge of how this career field can affect these

individuals personal stress levels and lifestyles.

Explained Stressors

The EMS world is unfortunately filled with a substantial number of stressors that make

this career potentially a great risk for of all wellness paradigms if not properly managed. The

most significant initial stressor is the stereotypical schedule or shift work that is involved in most

EMS occupations (Willing, 2019). This includes working 24-48 hours shifts that negatively

creates much needed time away from family, children, adequate rest. This stressor has

significantly impacted EMS workers without proper management since the development of

emergency medical services. Sleep deprivation is a common and guaranteed stressor for EMS

workers. 24 hour or more shifts create unwanted opportunities of no rest, irregular sleep patterns,

etc. Sleep deprivation affects how an individual reacts and manages stress significantly. Without

a routine optimal sleep schedule, any individual will not only suffer from fatigue but have

limited ability to manage and prevent acute stress (Willing, 2019). A common stressor related to

EMS workers is inadequate training. Well trained first responders are more confident and as a

result make good decisions. Fear and anxiety are felt many times when first responders feel

unprepared or complacent with inadequate training leading to an abundance of stressful

situations. First responders rely heavily on their equipment required for the occupation. When

technical problems cause equipment fails, breaks down, and is unreliable especially in needed

emergency situations this build the stress significantly (Willing, 2019). First responders normally

work with coworkers for 12, 24, and even 48 hours together, so when teams are not well

matched, including getting on each other’s nerves, and not having great chemistry can make the

work environment hostile and stressful to say the least. Other stressor such as malicious

coworkers, poor leadership, and inconsistent policies can be grouped together in the development

of poor working conditions, negative work environments, and increased levels of severe stress.
 4

Another stressor of many first responder’s is their accessibility to healthy behaviors and healthy

diet. During shift work, there is always a possibility that there is not enough time to eat, let alone

eat a nutritious meal. Gas stations, fast food, or highly processed snacks are sometimes the only

options for these individuals, which we all know it is not the first page in an optimal nutrition

plan. This can be extremely stress for first responders to maintain healthy habits and lifestyle due

to the occupational disadvantages.

The worst stressor that is truly a very individual response and reaction to acute stress and

can take many methods of stress management involves the worst part of being a first responder,

the bad calls. No one can anticipate how an individual will react to a traumatic situation as when

a first responders responds to call that involves a very sick child, A body that has fallen from a

tall building, a dramatic suicide, and so on. These kinds of calls can significantly pile on large

amounts of stress for any individual. It is important in stress management to debrief and try to

make a safe environment for first responder staff to get work through these situations effectively.

Stressor Importance

The stressors previously listed for this targeted population are the most significant

examples of what kind of stressors will greatly affect the health and wellness of first responders.

These stressors are at top priority on the list to address for developing stress management

programs and effective ways to prevent further complications of long-term health from

inadequate stress reduction techniques and unhealthy lifestyle behaviors. These stressors, without

proper management and prevention, can accumulate with any individual affecting all wellness

paradigms, in turn, creating possibly a detrimental workplace and home environment for these

individuals in the EMS field.

Program Descriptions
 5

This program is intended to be a good split between at work and after work activities

reducing stress and implement optimal stress management for future maintenance. The first

activity will involve 15 or 30-minute mindfulness meditation groups to bring awareness, promote

mental stability and growth, and chances for self-development during work (Stahl & Goldstein,

2019). There will also be opportunities for mindfulness meditation outside of the workplace.

Mindfulness meditation has been proven to reduce stress by building skills to manage stress,

increasing self-awareness, reducing negative emotions, increasing patience and tolerance as well

as improving sleep quality and reducing anxiety (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2022) The next activity

designed for implementation is the ability for any employee to have a catered physical activity

and nutrition plan to promote increased physical activity/exercise and lifestyle changes to ensure

proper goals for exercise, healthy eating habits, and as a result, stress reduction. The nutrition

implementation will also consist of providing healthy meal options and healthy snacking

alternatives at the workplace available during work hours. Lastly, this workplace wellness

program will include opportunities for yoga programs and supportive actions towards crew rest.

Yoga is wonderful for stress reduction because of its promotion of relaxation which is ultimately

the inverse of stress (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2022). Yoga creates a stronger mind, body, spirit

connection increasing self-awareness, self-realization, and self-fulfillment. Yoga is also great for

the management of chronic conditions including heart disease. Yoga program classes will be

design for outside of work time, 15 minute – hour long sessions, with a predetermined location

and times set up for the employees to achieve accessibility. Working 24-hour shifts, these

individuals require increased amounts of sleep due to shift sleep deprivation. There will be

implemented times during the day where if the current shift crew is available and not responding

to calls, rest will be encouraged (Spaulding, 2022).

Program Implementation and Future Review

The mission statement of this stress management and prevention workplace wellness

program is to implement stress management and prevention programs and improve the current

health and promote healthy lifestyles changes and habits for current firefighters/EMT/paramedics

to promote the longevity of livelihood and health promotion now and post retirement. The first

goal of the stress management and prevention/workplace wellness program is to provide

adequate and accurate stress management techniques, programs designed to implement longer

stress management and prevention, as well as wellness education and development to all

individuals of the target population. Second goal of the workplace wellness program is to provide

substantial statistical data that these EMS workers have been provided with the proper education

in stress management, prevention, and education in fitness, nutrition, and physical activity

programs to address and ensure life longevity post retirement. The initial objective is that within

6 months of program implementation, employees have received proper education in stress

management and prevention, diet and nutrition, and exercise and fitness, as well as participated

in physical activity training courses and seminars. The next objective is that within two years of

program implementation, employees will have made an improvement of overall health with BMI

ratings, physical fitness grading, and multiple assessment of mental health and stress

management. Long term objectives include within five years of program implementation, the

target audience will have health assessments to confirm that statically the longevity of life has

improved for current EMS workers.

Program Obstacles

The most common obstacle for most wellness promotion programs includes lack of

interest. Employees, many times, have little interest in health promotion programs, especially if
 7

general wellness improvement is new to them as well as not fully understanding what kind of

programs that are being offered (Knurr, 2018). The best way to gain trust and interest in

employees is through extensive marketing and structural support to encourage them to take part

in this program designed to help them. Lack of time investment is commonly associated in

having lack of interest in employees, due to the fact that, for some it is a large change and can be

an even greater commitment. Most wellness programs fail due to these two problems involving

individual but logistically they fail because of lack of funding. The best way to produce an

effective and long-term workplace wellness program is to develop an organized budget. This

requires the proper allocation of funding and efficient planning to produce successful programs

(Knurr, 2018).

Health Professionals

The purpose of the stress management and prevention workplace wellness program is

also to promote employee engagement and interpersonal relationships. There will be

opportunities during the program to assign current employees to possible practitioner roles for

mindfulness meditation and exercise and fitness categories to help reduce costs, build skill

development, and to nurture growing relationships. Most of the exercise/fitness/and general

wellness programs will be with an outside partnering agency where staff, trainers, and facilities

will be orchestrated as needed. The yoga classes will be developed with designated

trainers/facilities with optimal accessibility and timeliness for employees (Spaulding, 2022).

Summary

This workplace wellness program is essential for the firefighter’s/EMTS/Paramedics

capacity to remain or newly establish optimal health status, build foundations for optimal stress

management and stress reduction practices resulting in an unmatched mind body connection,
 8

self-fulfillment, and longer life longevity after retiring. With substantial incentives and the ability

of the employer to save money in a cost effective and health promoting way, this workplace

wellness program should be considered mandatory for optimal employer/employee relationship

and to maintain the personal health of the biological infrastructure of a workplace (Spaulding,

2022).
9

References

Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.) Workplace Health Promotion.

https://www.cdc.gov/workplacehealthpromotion/model/index.html

Knurr, G. (2018 Jan 23). The 3 Most Common Barriers to a Successful Workplace

Wellness Program (And How to Avoid Them). https://www.careatc.com/hr-

insights/the-3-most-common-barriers-to-a-successful-workplace-wellness-

program

Mayo Clinic Staff. (2022 April 29). Meditation: A simple, fast way to reduce stress.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/meditation/in-depth/meditation/art-

20045858#:~:text=Meditation%20can%20produce%20a%20deep,physical

%20and%20emotional%20well%2Dbeing.

Mayo Clinic Staff. (2020 Dec 29). Fight Stress and Find Serenity.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/yoga/

art-20044733

Seaward, B. (2018). Managing stress: Principles and strategies for health and well-being

(9th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Spaulding, S. (2022). HW410 Unit 8 Assignment/HW425 Health and Wellness

Programming – Design and Administration Unit 9 Assignment.

Stahl, B., & Goldstein, E. (2019). A mindfulness-based stress reduction workbook (2nd

ed.). New Harbinger Publications.

Willing, L. (2019 Jun 26). 9 Sources of Firefighter Stress.

https://www.firerescue1.com/exclusives-1/articles/9-sources-of-firefighter-stress-

o2KNDn8vMYZTq2FB/