KIMBERLY — A room at the Rock Creek Fire District has been transformed into an area to improve mental health and relieve sore muscles. It’s a place of wellness.
Containing a massage chair, sauna, ice bath and equipment for red-light therapy, it’s possibly the first fire department in the nation to have all four modalities in place in one area, said firefighter Chris Johnson, who helped the room come together.
But Johnson doesn’t want it to stop there. “I hope that one day these are in every firehouse across the nation, because I feel they need to be,” he said. “I feel like our first responders really need these modalities to heal.”
He started a nonprofit with his wife, initially working with several local fire stations to establish similar wellness rooms. The International Association of Fire Fighters says firefighters and other first responders facing frequent exposure to life-threatening situations can lead to PTSD, and stress and trauma seen on the job can lead to feelings of sadness and hopelessness.
Johnson has been there. Two years ago, Johnson found himself struggling with depression and anxiety and underwent a 40-day recovery program, and later began using some of the components that are now in the Rock Creek wellness room. He saw the good they could do, and a fellow firefighter wondered what it would take to have a room at the station dedicated to firefighters to decompress.
The plan came together, with Johnson’s mother even paying the $380 shipping costs for the sauna. Businesses, many of them local, pitched in, making the room and its contents come at no cost to the fire district. “Physically and mentally, these modalities have helped me put myself first and allow myself to do self-care and put myself before others,” Robinson said, reflecting on his situation, “and a lot of us in this profession do that.”
Relaxing in a massage chair, using red-light therapy to improve blood flow, utilizing a freezing-cold bath for muscle recovery and sweating out toxins in the sauna has made a great difference for Johnson. “Being able to heal the body and the mind has just been phenomenal for me,” Johnson said.
While other first responders around the nation might have access to some equipment in their stations, “this is definitely the first in the state,” Johnson said, “and from what we’ve researched, the first with all four modalities in the nation.” Other firefighters have benefited.
Johnson believes there has been more positivity and wellness within the department because of the wellness room. “When Chris first talked to me about putting a wellness room in,” Deputy Chief Ron Aguirre said, “I’ve been in the fire service long enough that it sounded just a little odd to me.” But once he started looking at all the benefits, including talking to industry experts, “we all actually got on board with it and helped make it come together,” he said, while acknowledging Johnson did the heavy lifting. “It has been received very well,” Aguirre said of the wellness room, which was unveiled to the public in October.
Studies into red-light therapy show that about 20% of firefighters meet the diagnostic threshold for PTSD at some point in their career, compared to 6.8% of the population. Eight weeks of red light therapy showed a moderate to large effect in reducing PTSD symptoms. Massage chairs can alleviate muscle tension and pain in the back, neck and calves, studies show. Cold plunge therapy and saunas also have many benefits.
The Johnsons’ nonprofit, “Two In Two Out Wellness,” became official last month. The four pieces of equipment would normally cost around $25,000, but through the nonprofit’s partnerships, the price to first responders would be reduced to $10,000. The mission of the nonprofit focuses on bringing wellness resources directly into the firehouse while extending support to spouses and families “who carry this journey alongside their firefighter.”
Family members are allowed to use the wellness room.
