Our Current Needs: Officer Health and Wellness
Offi
cer Wellness Initiatives
In 2022 the Foundation secured funds from our donors to take Officer Wellness to a whole new level. We didn’t talk about it at the 2022 Breakfast with the Chief, because it was just in the idea stages, however donations from that event went towards funding an ongoing program for the sworn officers of Salem Police Department, partnering with Sigma Tactical Wellness.
Did you know that heart disease is the #1 killer of cops today? The average age of a police officer suffering a heart attack is 49 years old and the life expectancy of men and women in uniform is more than 20 years less than the general population. Published data shows that, between the ages of 55 and 60, the chance of a civilian dying from a heart attack is 1.6%. However, within populations of police officers, it is 56%. That’s why we linked arms with Sigma Tactical Wellness in supporting Officer Wellness in a whole new way.
What does Sigma Tactical provide? They offer an optional program providing various types of physical stress tests, lab work, and follow-up programs, working with the Officers’ primary care physicians to support their needs.
Over 130 of the 190 Salem PD Officers opted to go through this program. What were the findings? That there was a disproportionate amount of officers in the pre-diabetes range, ahead of the average for other Departments. With the Sigma program, and the commitment from our Officers we are eager to see that number come down substantially.
Thanks to donor support in 2022, we secured funds to make this an ongoing effort for our Officers. The Salem Police Foundation is committed to making the services of Sigma Tactical available to our Officers going forward, with follow-up appointments, health counseling, and more. We appreciate your ongoing support to ensure that is the case.
The Salem Police Foundation is working on funding programs to support officer wellness. This is a national movement and here in Salem we are concentrating our support on our Chaplaincy program.
Salem Police Department’s Chaplaincy Program focuses on officer’s mental, emotional, and spiritual health. The goal is to be proactive officer care, rather than reactive.
Chaplains work to lay healthy and strong foundations so that when regular life happens, on top of their highly stressful job, our officers have the tools to maintain their resilience and health.
Our Chaplains do this by:
- Spending time riding along with officers on patrol
- Checking in on staff at the department
- Assisting with trainings, and any other thing that any staff asks of them; all of this is working to build and deepen relationships with officers and staff as human beings.
- Working with family members and spouses of officers to provide a holistic approach to wellness.
In addition, during the pandemic, we appreciate the donations of food to our officers on the front lines. Thank you to the following businesses for providing healthy meals for our officers at this very challenging difficult time.
Sparky’s Brewing Company
Adam’s Ribs
Five Guys
Willamette Valley Vineyards
Foodology Mobile Kitchen
Geppetto’s
Masonry Grill/Doneth & Sturdivant
Your donation is appreciated here.
