My last column was about changing behavior in EMS. The take-home message was that training changes behavior, and we must educate new responders coming into our departments before they learn dangerous and bad “tricks of the trade.”
One comment I made was, “Do we expect to bring all responders into the fold? Yes, someday. Train the new responders so they in turn can help teach the incumbents. When a quarter of the employees change behavior, then half and over time, changes will occur. From there, an interesting phenomenon occurs. The rest of the employees, the resistant final quarter, will follow the crowd.”
Maybe not! According to a new study that came out last week, “poor fitness spreads through peer groups.” College students who were assigned to spend most of their time with 30 other randomly chosen undergraduates may adopt the diet and exercise patterns of the least fit within their peer group, says a team led by Scott E. Carrell of the University of California-Davis.
“The data suggests that if half of your friends were to become among the least fit (for reasons unrelated to you), your own fitness level would drop by nearly 20% of a standard deviation. The people most susceptible to being influenced by the least fit are those who are already struggling to maintain their fitness,” the researchers say.1
Do as I do, not as I say?
Just last week I taught a class where one crew was very fit and in shape; they ate well and they loved to stay fit. There was also another crew that was obese, drank sugary, caffeine-laden beverages and ate junk food during class. If society is trending as suggested by the study, it makes sense that it happens in EMS as well!
Human nature is to almost always follow the easy path. This is especially true when it comes to food. What we eat is a very personal choice and has deep-seated emotions tied to it. If an EMS crew is struggling to lose weight and one of them craves a greasy burger and fries, will the others follow along? The study suggests that it’s likely.
Should we be focusing on the unfit and poorly motivated first and foremost?
It’s easy to encourage and empower responders who are already self-motivated. These are the early adopters and they are always the first to jump in. But a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Is a department only as strong as its weakest member?
Fitness as a requirement
EMS, fire and rescue personnel must have have a certain level of job-specific fitness. This is why physical ability testing is slowly moving to the forefront of the EMS hiring process. It may soon be part of the EMS employee retention process. This is one way to motivate responders to get fit, stay fit and eat better.
Wellness programs have the same intent: to ultimately change behaviors in diet, exercise, stress management and lifestyle. That’s all great. But how many of the people who need it most show up for the health fair or wellness screening? Is it mandatory or optional? EMS chiefs and directors, you are paying for their lack of wellness through injuries, absenteeism, poor performance and overtime costs.
Some departments have even turned to psychological screenings to weed out potential employees who are prone to being unmotivated, non-team players.
Responders, how many times have you been injured because your partner is not physically able to do the basic tasks of their job? But we just turn a blind eye and let it continue, and it’s slowly killing EMS and destroying your back.
Now it’s your turn to sound out. What are some positive and constructive ways we can motivate those responders to get motivated, get fit, eat better and ultimately lose weight while improving their wellness and the wellness of your entire department?
References:
- Carrell SE, Hoekstra M, West JE. Is poor fitness contagious? Evidence from randomly assigned friends. Journal Of Public Economics. 2011 95:657-663.
