You show up for everyone.
We show up for you.
Critical Wellness is an integrative health program for fire departments built to support firefighters physically, mentally, and financially.
Delivered inside the firehouse, while crews are on duty.
The job takes its toll on our bodies, our minds, and our families. We built Critical Wellness to strengthen all three, connecting top professionals in their fields who treat firefighters like the industrial athletes they are. It meets every firefighter wherever they are in a career, at every rank.
Our goal is simple: give firefighters consistent access to the professionals who can keep them healthy. They give everything to the people they serve, and they deserve a team behind them that doesn’t come and go. No more nagging injuries left unchecked, no more sore backs nobody ever worked on, no more carrying the mental side alone. Caught early, none of it has to become a workers’ compensation claim — or the thing that ends a career.
• BUILT BY FIREFIGHTERS, FOR FIREFIGHTERS
~45%
~45%
of firefighter line-of-duty deaths are cardiac-related—many preventable with the right care.
US FIRE ADMINISTRATION
3x
the rate of PTSD diagnosis among firefighters compared to the general population.
US FIRE ADMINISTRATION
$4.61
returned for every $1.00 spent on a firefighter wellness program, measured against workers’ compensation claims and medical costs.
PHLAME STUDY
8%
fewer workers’ compensation claims at the departments running the program — while claims rose 13% at the departments that did not.
PHLAME STUDY
— THE PROGRAM
One monthly rotation.
Zero appointments to schedule.
Customizable to your department's needs.
Critical Wellness runs every month of the year, on a four-week rotation. Three core services every cycle. One rotating service each Week 4. We set a consistent schedule with every station and arrive at the same time every week — so crews always know when we'll be there and can plan their day around it. This is not a seminar, a kickoff, or a one-time visit — the same cycle comes back around month after month, for as long as we work with you.
Not every department runs all of it. Take the full rotation, or the part of it that fits your budget and your year, and add to it as it earns its place.
WEEK 1
Functional Fitness
Job-specific strength, balance and stability — taught, not just run.
WEEK 2
Physical Therapy
A PT team that knows every firefighter by name and returns every month.
WEEK 3
Strength & Mobility
Hands-on recovery reinforcing what the PT week surfaced.
WEEK 4
Rotating Service
Therapy, financial wellness, sleep & nutrition, or mobility training.
↻ The four-week cycle repeats every month, all year.
— THE CORE PROGRAM • WEEKS 1-3
The foundation: physical health on every cycle.
Three core components run every month — the highest-leverage services for keeping firefighters healthy, on the job, and off workers' comp.
Functional Fitness
Instructor-led functional strength training designed for all ability levels. Programming targets the balance, stability, and job-specific strength firefighting actually demands — not generic gym workouts.
Our coaches don’t just deliver a workout. They teach technique on every exercise and correct form as they go — so firefighters aren’t only getting stronger, they’re learning how to move correctly through the job-specific movements that cause the most injuries.
Physical Therapy
A pair of physical therapists with experience treating athletes provide personal attention to every firefighter — both rehabilitating the nagging injuries that lead to time off work, and building the strength to reduce the chances of future ones. Every firefighter starts with a personal assessment. From there, the same PT team returns every month, so crews always have someone to speak to and work with.
Proactive PT keeps firefighters on the line and off workers’ comp.
Strength & Mobility
A hands-on group session led by a recovery specialist working in lockstep with our physical therapy team. Sessions reinforce the exact same postural pillar movements from your PT week — manual stretching, direct cueing, and hands-on guidance to make sure every firefighter is moving through the right positions. The focus: tissue recovery, restored range of motion, and reducing the accumulated tension that builds up shift after shift.
Structured, intentional active restoration — so firefighters bounce back faster and stay ready for the next shift.
— ROTATING SERVICES • WEEK 4
Week 4 is built around your department.
There is no fixed Week 4. We build the rotation with you, around what your crews actually need and what your department is already dealing with. Each Week 4 session rotates through one of these services, so across the year every firefighter sees the full range — not only the parts that happened to fit one month’s schedule.
First Responder Therapy
A licensed therapist — often a former first responder — in the station. Puts a face to mental health support before anyone is in crisis.
Financial Wellness
A finance coach trained in the life of a firefighter. Pensions, overtime tax strategy, long-term security — less dependence on overtime, more time at home.
Sleep & Nutrition
Research-based strategies for shift-work sleep and firehouse nutrition. Faster reaction times, better decisions, less fatigue-related injury.
Virtual Expert Sessions
A guest professional live over Zoom from anywhere in the country, working directly with one crew in their own dayroom, on duty.
Together with the three core services, that is a full program — physical, mental and financial — without a firefighter having to go looking for any of it.
— HOW WE DELIVER
We come to the firehouse.
Your crews stay in service.
01
Custom Built For Your Department
We work around your training schedules, station layouts, and shift cadence to deliver the services your firefighters actually need, at a size your budget supports — not a one-size-fits-all package.
02
In-Station, on duty
Our team travels station to station. Your firefighters never have to leave their station or schedule around their tour.
03
Built around emergency response
Departments can keep crews in service or take them out of service during their Critical Wellness slot. We recommend crews coordinate with their Battalion Chief to confirm response status before each session.
04
Consistent teams within each service
Your PT week is run by the same physical therapy group. Recovery week, the same recovery team. Every service has its consistent instructors, so firefighters build familiarity with the people who matter most to them.
05
Voluntary, always
Participation is 100% voluntary. We’re there to support — on your firefighters’ terms. Opt in to what fits, ignore what doesn’t.
A PROGRAM DAY
Station 1
Station 2
Station 3
Lunch
Station 4
Station 5
Station 6
Station 7
9:00 - 9:45
10:00 - 10:45
11:00 - 11:45
12:00 - 1:00
1:00 - 1:45
2:00 - 2:45
3:00 - 3:45
4:00 - 4:45
An example only. Time at each station varies with the number of personnel, and the route is built around your department.
— THE FOUNDER
Why We Built This.
“A wellness program no one uses isn’t a wellness program. So we built one that comes to you.”
Eric McGlennon — Founder, Critical Wellness
Eric McGlennon — Fire Captain, 26 years in the fire service, founder of Critical Wellness.
Critical Wellness was built by firefighters for the firefighters we work alongside every day. We’ve watched too many crews carry injuries that should have been caught earlier. We’ve watched too many lose careers — or lives — to issues the system saw coming.
Over 26 years in the fire service, I’ve seen firsthand what a career without these tools can do to a firefighter — physically, mentally, and financially. In the last five years of my career, it became clear that we need these tools not just for ourselves, but for the families we go home to. Mental, physical, and financial support exists for firefighters — but too often it’s unattainable, unaffordable, or built for someone else’s schedule. Critical Wellness solves that problem by bringing the services directly to firefighters while they’re on duty.
— OUR TEAM
The people who lead each part of the program.
Every professional in our network is fully vetted, trained on the realities of the job, and selected for the rare combination of expertise and the humility to be welcomed into a firehouse. We don’t take that lightly. We work hard to earn the trust and respect of every crew we serve.
Each of these professionals heads one part of the program — they design what happens in your stations, set the standard, and lead the team that delivers it. Depending on the size of your department and the day, the session may be run by them or by a member of their team.
Eric McGlennon — Fire Captain, 26 years in the fire service, founder of Critical Wellness.
Josh Moreali
PHYSICAL THERAPY • DPT
Looks past the sore part to the chain that caused it — why this shoulder, why now, what upstream is compensating. The difference between a firefighter who stops hurting and one who stops re-injuring.
Joey Salgado
PHYSICAL THERAPY • DPT
Reset, evolve, perform — calm the tissue, rebuild the alignment beneath it, then load it for the job. His aim is a firefighter who reads their own body well enough to manage it between visits.
Faysal Abi
MOBILITY
Leads the hands-on mobility and myofascial release work. Also specializes in breath work and mindfulness techniques — bringing a heart rate down, not just a range of motion back.
Tony Giuliano
FUNCTIONAL FITNESS
Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, Performance Enhancement Specialist and Corrective Exercise Specialist.
Matt McNichol
FIRST RESPONDER THERAPY • LICENSED THERAPIST
A retired police sergeant, now a licensed therapist. He has run the calls himself, which is why the conversation starts somewhere other than the beginning.
Bring Critical Wellness to your station.
Tell us a little about your department, local, or station. We'll respond within one business day to schedule a 20-minute call — no commitment, no sales pressure.
FOUNDER
Eric McGlennon
PHONE
(650) 759 - 2320