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Record of Proceedings

Denver Health and Safety Committee Briefing on Fire Department Wellness Program – December 17, 2025

Council Committees — Wednesday, December 17, 2025

BodyDenver, Colorado

SessionCouncil Committees

DateWednesday, December 17, 2025

StatusFILED

Video Record

0:00 / 53:51

Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it

0:00

Welcome back to this weekly meeting of the Health and Safety Committee with Denver City Council.

0:09

Coverage of the Health and Safety Committee starts now.

0:18

Okay.

0:22

Well, good morning.

0:23

Uh the light came on, but no introduction as far as that's time.

0:28

Oh, yeah, no video.

0:29

Video.

0:29

See?

0:30

I'm caught off guard.

0:31

Hey, good morning, Daryl Watson.

0:33

Um honor to serve all the fine district nine and also to be the chair of the health and safety committee.

0:39

I want to thank you all for being here today.

0:42

Um we have a light agenda, and we have a guest at a table with us.

0:48

And so why don't we begin first with introductions around the table, and we'll start on our right, and we'll go through the room and then we'll go back to the briefing.

0:58

That's here, right?

1:01

Uh Kevin Flynn, Southwest Members District Two.

1:04

Good morning, Amanda Sawyer, District Five.

1:07

So to clause North Pool.

1:13

Uh Sarah Perity, one of your city council members at large.

1:18

Sorry, I'm walking into what's happening.

1:22

A very formal meeting.

1:23

Sorry.

1:24

Um hi everyone, Serena Gonzalez.

1:26

Your other council member at large.

1:28

Well, we're so happy to have uh Santa at a table with us.

1:31

And I didn't state the date.

1:33

Today is the December 17th Health and Safety Committee, just so we have the timestamp.

1:38

I know Santa has to get out there and meet some of the other good little boys and girls uh throughout uh the community.

1:45

So, Santa, thank you so much for being with us.

1:47

Um we have one briefing from the Denver Fire Department, wellness and resilience program.

1:52

So I'll turn it over to Deputy Chief uh Kathleen uh Wernerberg.

1:57

I always destroy your name from DFD for your presentation.

2:00

And if you don't mind introducing yourself and your team, that'll be great.

2:03

I'll turn the floor over to you.

2:05

Absolutely.

2:05

Um good morning to everyone.

2:07

Thank you for having us.

2:08

I'm Deputy Chief Kathleen Friedenberg with the Denver Fire Department.

2:11

And with me, I brought, I'll let you guys introduce yourselves and your position.

2:16

Great to see everybody, Desmond Fulton, Chief Denver Fly.

2:19

And I'm technician Michael Haplan, the resilience coordinator at the fire.

2:23

So thank you so much.

2:24

I wanted to make sure we have a council member on on virtual.

2:27

I'm getting a notice that we may have some council members that are virtual.

2:32

Are there any council members on Tzu on Zoom?

2:36

Uh yes.

2:38

Hello, Diana Romero Campbell, Southeast Denver District 4.

2:42

Thank you so much for joining.

2:44

The floor is here.

2:46

So again, thank you very much for having us to have an opportunity to speak with you about our wellness program.

2:52

Um it's wellness and resilience now.

2:54

I need to make sure I'm giving it the full, you know, the full name, the full importance.

2:58

And uh, with us here together, I think between the three of us, we can answer any question, and please feel free to add in if I'm missing something, okay.

3:06

Um I want to start with the obvious, which is our mission, our vision and value statement.

3:11

I'm not gonna read through the whole thing.

3:13

I just want you to get the overarching meaning behind all three of these.

3:17

Um the primary meeting of the entirety is is that we are dedicated to efficiency and um competently and compassionately serving the Denver community.

3:29

But with that, also within this is the context that in order to do that in a capable way, we have to care for each other and make sure that we are coming to the public in the most physically and mentally strong way so that we can help them with whatever their emergency is.

3:46

Um, so having the context on both ends, it's it's internal and external.

3:51

Um, just to let you know, kind of where the wellness and resilience program sits within our department.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Mental Health Awareness█████████████████████████████████████████████83%

Public Health Policy█████10%

Fiscal Sustainability██4%

Environmental Protection█2%

Procedural█1%

Summary of Proceedings

Denver Health and Safety Committee Briefing on Fire Department Wellness Program – December 17, 2025

The Health and Safety Committee of the Denver City Council met on December 17, 2025, to receive a briefing from the Denver Fire Department (DFD) on its Wellness and Resilience Program. The presentation was led by Deputy Chief Kathleen Friedenberg, Chief Desmond Fulton, and Resilience Coordinator Michael Haplan. Council members expressed strong support for the program and discussed its impact on firefighter health, mental well-being, and future funding needs.

Discussion Items

Wellness and Resilience Program Overview: Deputy Chief Friedenberg described the program’s mission to support firefighters physically and mentally to ensure they can serve the community effectively. The program operates under her office with a small team, including a wellness coordinator (Lt. Jerry Bixby), a resilience coordinator (Technician Haplan), an on-staff physician (Dr. Elisa Coval), and two physical therapists from the Department of Safety. The team provides annual wellness screenings (92.8% participation among operations firefighters), candidate physical ability testing (CPAT) – with tests increasing from 521 in 2023 to 908 in 2024 – blood screenings (including heavy metals and vitamin D), and mental health support.
Mental Health and Resilience: Technician Haplan and Chief Fulton emphasized the importance of reducing stigma around mental health. They noted a rise in firefighters seeking help, attributed to a culture of permission and visible support. The department uses peer support, chaplaincy (5 chaplains), and critical incident response to assist crews after traumatic events. The EAP cap was clarified: initially a data-driven cap was perceived as limiting care, but it has been adjusted to ensure access based on need.
Recruit and Career Wellness: The program integrates physical therapists and resilience coordinators from day one in the academy, teaching proper lifting techniques to prevent injuries. Chief Fulton stated that physical injuries are the highest among any profession, and cancer is the number one killer of firefighters. Lung cancer is not covered under presumptive cancer trust, so early screenings are vital.
2026 Goals: Plans include a comprehensive mental health survey (de-identified, aggregate), Dr. Coval taking over hazmat/dive team physicals, expansion of peer fitness trainer program, station-based wellness visits, and implementation of an electronic medical record (EMR) system for confidential data collection.
Councilmember Questions:
- Councilmember Flynn asked about isolating Denver-specific cancer data. DFD noted ongoing work with Kaiser to aggregate and anonymize data, and future EMR will improve population-specific analysis.
- Councilmember Perry inquired about collaboration with Denver Health’s new behavioral health center. Technician Haplan had initial discussions with Dr. Christian Thurstone; further collaboration is desired but pending higher-level decisions.
- Councilmember Perry also asked for more detail on chemical exposures contributing to cancer. Chief Fulton explained absorption of carcinogens like benzene and HCN through skin, especially when body temperature rises during fires, increasing absorption by 400% per degree. The group offered to connect her with Dr. Coval for further information.

Key Outcomes

No formal votes or legislative actions were taken; the briefing was informational.
Committee members expressed strong support for the Wellness and Resilience Program and acknowledged the need for dedicated funding beyond the current “shoelace budget.”
DFD will continue to develop its comprehensive mental health survey and expand peer support and fitness trainer programs.
Collaboration with Denver Health’s behavioral health center is under consideration.
The committee chair thanked DFD for their service and commitment, and recognized the behind-the-scenes work of liaison Chai.

Meeting Transcript

Welcome back to this weekly meeting of the Health and Safety Committee with Denver City Council. Coverage of the Health and Safety Committee starts now. Okay. Well, good morning. Uh the light came on, but no introduction as far as that's time. Oh, yeah, no video. Video. See? I'm caught off guard. Hey, good morning, Daryl Watson. Um honor to serve all the fine district nine and also to be the chair of the health and safety committee. I want to thank you all for being here today. Um we have a light agenda, and we have a guest at a table with us. And so why don't we begin first with introductions around the table, and we'll start on our right, and we'll go through the room and then we'll go back to the briefing. That's here, right? Uh Kevin Flynn, Southwest Members District Two. Good morning, Amanda Sawyer, District Five. So to clause North Pool. Uh Sarah Perity, one of your city council members at large. Sorry, I'm walking into what's happening. A very formal meeting. Sorry. Um hi everyone, Serena Gonzalez. Your other council member at large. Well, we're so happy to have uh Santa at a table with us. And I didn't state the date. Today is the December 17th Health and Safety Committee, just so we have the timestamp. I know Santa has to get out there and meet some of the other good little boys and girls uh throughout uh the community. So, Santa, thank you so much for being with us. Um we have one briefing from the Denver Fire Department, wellness and resilience program. So I'll turn it over to Deputy Chief uh Kathleen uh Wernerberg. I always destroy your name from DFD for your presentation. And if you don't mind introducing yourself and your team, that'll be great. I'll turn the floor over to you. Absolutely. Um good morning to everyone. Thank you for having us. I'm Deputy Chief Kathleen Friedenberg with the Denver Fire Department. And with me, I brought, I'll let you guys introduce yourselves and your position. Great to see everybody, Desmond Fulton, Chief Denver Fly. And I'm technician Michael Haplan, the resilience coordinator at the fire. So thank you so much. I wanted to make sure we have a council member on on virtual. I'm getting a notice that we may have some council members that are virtual. Are there any council members on Tzu on Zoom? Uh yes. Hello, Diana Romero Campbell, Southeast Denver District 4. Thank you so much for joining. The floor is here. So again, thank you very much for having us to have an opportunity to speak with you about our wellness program.

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