Improving the opportunities for enhanced health and wellness in first responders has gained national attention in recent years. Employers and other stakeholders striving to improve employee utilization of available resources will need to increase transparency in the process and improve understanding between first responders and clinicians. One potential process, early warning systems (EWS) are primarily designed to alert management to an at-risk employee. However, the continuing goal of any effort should be to identify and remedy any employee issue before the employee exhibits the predetermined number of events that trigger an early warning alert. Although many organizations are adopting an EWS by either choice or mandate, they are largely separate and distinct from the agency's health and wellness programming. Administrators are not only unsure of what data to consider, but also what to do when an alert is activated. Ideally, agencies move toward early intervention systems that themselves are conceptualized within the larger framework of wellness programming.
