AWC PD partners with Heal the Hero for first responder wellness program
First responding can be a stressful job. That’s why the Arizona Western College Police Department is partnering with the Heal the Hero Foundation to provide a technology-based health and wellness program for local emergency first responders.
Per AWC, the Command Performance program will be housed at the AWC Reskilling and Technology Center and brings “cutting-edge, neuroscience-driven brain performance technology” to police, fire and emergency medical services agencies in Yuma. It lasts six months and aims to improve stress resilience, optimize performance, augment speed and accuracy of work, enhance rest and sleep cycles and reduce anxiety for participants.
“Arizona Western College and the AWC Police Department are excited to partner with Heal the Hero and Vitanya to help provide this program for first responders in the Yuma area,” AWC Chief of Police Stephen Suho said. “It is important that first responders for Law Enforcement and FIRE/EMS maintain good psychological and emotional health as this ties to better physical health and the goal of improved wellness overall. We believe this program will help participants achieve that goal. This all leads to responders who, having taken care of themselves, are able to better care for the people they serve in their community for the duration of their career.”
A grant from the Arizona Governor’s office to the Heal the Hero Foundation has made the program accessible to first responders, AWC reports. The Foundation has been working in a public-private partnership with Vitanya Brain Performance since 2015. In the case of this program, Vitanya is the vehicle delivering the statewide program.
Although Heal the Hero considers the program a proprietary one, it notes that the service is meant to optimize brain health and mental resilience. Should beneficiaries desire, they can couple their use of the program with additional mental health services like pharmaceutical drugs and talk therapy.
“It is such an honor to be able to provide this program on a large scale to our state’s first responders,” Heal the Hero Foundation CEO Joe Holmes said. “These men and women put their lives on the line every day to protect us. Nothing we can do can repay them for their sacrifice, but we hope this program will be a payment towards that debt. We have seen that, as a result of the programs we have funded over the years, changing the life of one person in a family can, and often does, change the trajectory of that family, which projects into future generations. The power and reach of this program is tremendous.”
In addition to the AWC Reskilling and Technology Center, the Command Performance program will also be offered at the Yuma County Sherriff’s Office as a second site location.
To learn more about Heal the Hero, visit https:// www.healthehero.org//