Captain Charles Hines
Captain Charles Hines functions as the Mobile Fire-Rescue Department Health & Safety Officer, overseeing the department's Workers' Compensation and risk management program. Additional responsibilities include chairing the Safety Committee that investigates employee-involved accidents and injuries.
Captain Hines manages the comprehensive safety programs, occupational health, fitness, and wellness services to fire department personnel. The Health and Safety Division develops, implements, and maintains departmental safety policies and procedures.
Cancer, cardiovascular, and heart diseases are front and center in the health and safety agenda of Mobile Fire Rescue Department. Ultrasound is a costeffective diagnostic tool that can provide an early detection for cancer and other diseases.
Firefighters face cancer rates substantially higher than the general population. Health experts consider public safety to be among the most stressful and hazardous of all professions with long-term exposure to toxic materials, extreme heat exposure, intense physical demands, and repeated exposure to emotionally devastating events. Roughly half (45%) of the nation’s line-of-duty firefighter deaths are from sudden cardiovascular events.
The Mobile Fire-Rescue Department has taken advantage of a professional partnership with Life Scan Wellness. Life Scan Wellness physical exams have been successful in the early detection of cancer and heart disease, providing for the most successful outcomes. Life Scan Wellness Center’s physicals include echocardiograms and cardiopulmonary stress tests.
Physicals are delivered on-site and include ultrasounds for early health concern detection. The ultrasound technician conducts a thorough evaluation of internal organs and provides the patient with copies of still images (sonograms) that may be passed on to the patient’s primary physician for further evaluation and/or diagnostic purposes. Ultrasound scanning is noninvasive, safe and painless. Searching for abnormalities in the major internal organs assures that employees can adequately perform essential job tasks with as little risk as possible. It also aids to track the yearly effects of the environmental exposure the job entails such as exposure to toxic fumes, irritants, particulates, biological hazards, and/or heated gases.