Ultima Medical

When the City of Langford Fire Rescue Department wanted to adopted new measures to managing their Health and Fitness and ensuring that their firefighters met the N.F.P.A regulations and requirements with respect to being "Fit for Duty", they reached out to Ultima Medical Services Inc. for assistance.

Together they created a tailored program which allowed their firefighters to receive an onsite medical examination through the use of Ultima's Health and Fitness Appraisal (HFA) program. The HFA is a seven component health assessment or screen designed to serve as a preventative measure and detect underlying health conditions; which in turns gives a Physician enough objective information to comfortably determine whether an individual is "fit for firefighting" given the essential tasks outlined in N.F.P.A. 1582 section 5.1.

The entire program was completed onsite at the City of Langford – Fire Rescue Station with a team comprising of two Ultima Kinesiologists and one lead Physician. In the course of a half-day, the City of Langford was able to send close to twenty individuals through the program, allowing each firefighter to complete their medical examination, enable a Physician to sign off on their "fit for firefighting" form and give the individual an opportunity to speak directly with a physician and review their current level of health. The fire department also received an aggregate of their overall group health and fitness indicator while protecting the confidentiality of the individual participants.

The gains to a business or organization which participates in a preventative program similar to the Health and Fitness Appraisal (HFA) is exponential. Employers similar to the City of Langford Fire Rescue department understand the need for corporate social responsibility and to ensure that the needs of their employees are being properly addressed.