Hi! I’m Christine Cox, a Registered Nurse and the Director of FLEX – Front Line Extended Care.
If you’re a chief, a wellness officer, or part of command staff, you already know how difficult it’s become to manage the health and readiness of your team. Between staffing shortages, rising healthcare costs, and the burden of regulatory compliance, there’s not a lot of margin left for error or delay.
I’ve spent my career in nursing, and I’ve seen the toll the job takes on our first responders. Not just physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. That’s why we built FLEX.
FLEX (Front Line Extended Care) is a field-forward health management program built specifically for fire and law enforcement. We created it to meet real needs in real time. It’s responsive, clinical, and it’s personal.
The earlier we step in, the better the outcome. According to a national study, non-fatal injuries among firefighters cost departments between $1.6 and $5.9 billion every year, with an average impact of up to $200,000 per agency. Nearly 40% of those are musculoskeletal injuries, which average around $8,000 per incident. When those injuries aren’t triaged and treated quickly, costs multiply financially, operationally, and personally.
FLEX is built to intervene early and manage cases through recovery. Within 24–48 hours of an injury or illness, our team is meeting with your member, documenting properly, conducting medical evaluations, and guiding care decisions. We also stay engaged throughout the recovery process, coordinating with all the necessary parties and helping avoid costly delays or oversights.
We also take behavioral health seriously. Around 30% of first responders develop conditions like depression, anxiety, or PTSD. That’s significantly higher than the general population. And statistically, departments are more likely to experience a suicide than a line-of-duty death. When those realities hit home, it’s not enough to hope a wellness program alone catches them. It takes clinical follow-up, peer awareness, and quiet, compassionate intervention. That’s part of what FLEX does.
One of the most important aspects of this program is how personal it is. We don’t just plug people into a system. We talk with them. We understand their family situation, cultural background, personal health goals, and where they’re at emotionally. That kind of context shapes better outcomes. It also builds trust, especially because our clinical documentation is held outside of city HR systems. Your people know their privacy is protected, and they’re more likely to engage as a result.
We’ve also made FLEX scalable. Whether you’re a metro department with hundreds of sworn staff or a smaller agency trying to stretch limited resources, there’s a service tier that fits.
Yes, we handle injury triage and recovery. We also follow up on issues found during annual physicals. We maintain vaccine records and exposure logs. We provide stress debriefing, help you place light-duty assignments, and sit on safety committees when needed. The whole program is designed to relieve pressure from your leadership team while increasing the quality of care for your personnel.
We aren’t interested in just checking the box. We are about doing the right thing for the people who’ve committed their lives to this work. The cost of not acting shows up in claims, burnout, retention problems, and preventable loss. The return on a program like FLEX is measured in lives stabilized, shifts covered, dollars saved and people who feel like they’re seen and supported.
If you want to talk through what FLEX could look like in your department, I’d be happy to meet. No pressure. Just a chance to take the next step in protecting the health of your people. Reach out to me today. Let’s work together on a plan that is right for your department.
Call me today at 682-348-2678 to schedule a consultation.
Sources for Physical Injury Cost Statistics
“Non-fatal injuries among firefighters cost departments between $1.6 billion and $5.9 billion annually, with individual agencies facing up to $200,000 per year.”
Source: Economics of Firefighter Injuries, GovInfo and NIST
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-C13-b8dbdb94136ba36aad8a6192de01aedf/pdf/GOVPUB-C13-b8dbdb94136ba36aad8a6192de01aedf.pdf
“Nearly 40% of those are musculoskeletal injuries, averaging around $8,000 per incident.”
Source: Lexipol article summarizing multiple firefighter injury cost studies
https://www.lexipol.com/resources/blog/long-term-costs-of-firefighter-injuries
Sources for Mental Health and Suicide Statistics
“About 30% of first responders develop behavioral health conditions such as depression or PTSD.”
Source: SAMHSA Supplemental Research Bulletin, First Responders
https://www.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/dtac/supplementalresearchbulletin-firstresponders-may2018.pdf
“Departments are more likely to experience a suicide than a line-of-duty death.”
Source: Ruderman Family Foundation White Paper on First Responder Suicide
https://dir.nv.gov/uploadedFiles/dirnvgov/content/WCS/TrainingDocs/First%20Responder%20White%20Paper_Final%20(2).pdf
