April 2009 is Stress Awareness Month, sponsored by The Health Resource Network (HRN), to inform people about the dangers of stress, successful coping strategies and misconceptions about stress prevalent in our society.

What is stress?

Stress is a fact of nature. With the overabundance of stress in our lives, stress is thought to be a negative, but biologically, stress can be a neutral, negative or positive experience. Is stress a non-specific response of the body to a demand placed on it? Or, are we having problems or conflicts--emotional, physical, financial, etc., that are painful or troubling.

Stress is what you feel when you have to handle more than you are used to. When stressed, the body responds as if it were in danger, making hormones that speed up the heart, make you breathe faster and provides a burst of energy, in other words the “fight-or-flight” stress response.

Stress can be an external or internal factor. External factors include: the environment, your job, relationships, situations at home, challenges, difficulties and daily situations you are confronted with.

Internal factors include: the body's ability to respond to or deal with external stress factors. Internal factors include: nutritional, health and fitness levels, emotional well-being and the amount of sleep you get.

Research indicates that stress plays a role in many cardiovascular disorders. It also contributes to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and other cardiac risk factors (e.g. smoking, overweight, etc.).

Are you showing the signs of stress?
Excess stress can manifest into emotional, behavioral, and even physical symptoms. Common physical symptoms are:

• sleep disturbances
• muscle tension
• headache
• gastrointestinal disturbances
• fatigue
• nervousness
• anxiety
• changes in eating habits
• loss of energy
• mood changes

Common symptoms of stress which effect the body:

• Rapid heartbeat
• Headache
• Stiff neck, tightness in shoulders
• Back pain
• Rapid breathing
• Sweating
• Nausea or diarrhea

Over time, stress can affect your immune system. Constant stress makes you more prone to get sick more often. With chronic illnesses such as AIDS, added stress makes symptoms worse. Stress is also linked to high blood pressure, abnormal heartbeats, blood clots and hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis). It's also linked to coronary artery disease, heart attack and heart failure.

The top stressors for Americans: money (81%), the economy (80%), work (67%), and health problems affecting the family (67%), according to surveys by the American Psychological Association (APA).

You can learn to manage and control stress by:

• Finding out what is causing the stress in your life.
• Reducing the amount of stress in your life.
• Learning healthy ways to relieve stress and it's harmful effects.

Simple stress relaxation techniques:

• Meditation
• Deep breathing exercises
• Self message
• Take a personal time out
• Music


For more information, the following helpful websites:
Interactive stress measurement tool

The effects of stress on the body

Stress and Cardiovascular Disease

What exactly is Stress?

Stress and the Economy

Submitted by d'Lisa Davies
Los Angeles Fire Department

READ MORE - Stress Awareness

The Los Angeles Fire Department has secured an exclusive contract to own and operate the nation's first 'Heli-Station', a helicopter fortress that will bring the full capabilities of a fire station above the scene of any emergency.

Built on the proven 'Hotelicopter' platform seen below and in these images, an LAFD prototype debuts today, April 1, 2009 in the skies of Los Angeles.



Learn more about this *amazing* helicopter at:

www.hotelicopter.com


Submitted by Brian Humphrey, Spokesman
Los Angeles Fire Department

READ MORE - World's Largest Firefighting Helicopter Debuts Today in Los Angeles

On Tuesday, March 31, 2009 at 3:29 PM, 4 Companies of Los Angeles Firefighters, 2 LAFD Rescue Ambulances, 1 Urban Search and Rescue Unit, 1 EMS Battalion Captain, 1 Battalion Chief Officer Command Team, under the direction of Battalion Chief Michael Thomas, responded to a Physical Rescue at 1430 N. Sunset Plaza Dr. in the Hollywood Hills.

Firefighters responded to reports of a car over the embankment in the Hollywood Hills. When Firefighters arrived on scene, they were directed to an area of a yard where the car had plunged through a fence and continued downhill. A company was directed to the street below, where they found the vehicle had finally come to rest against a large Birch tree. Firefighters began stabilization of the vehicle to gain access to the patient. The lone female occupant, 70's, was unconscious and unresponsive. The patient was transported to an area hospital in very grave condition.

Reports from the scene indicated the vehicle left the roadway, went through a fence missing 1 home and plunged downhill approximately 100 feet before coming to a stop a few feet from a second home. The cause of the unfortunate traffic accident will be determined by the local investigating police agency. The LAFD Heavy Rescue 56 and a USAR company assisted the police agency with the retrieval of the vehicle.

(video) (video)

Submitted by d'Lisa Davies
Los Angeles Fire Department

READ MORE - Woman Gravely Injured in Hollywood Hills Traffic Accident

On Saturday, March 28, 2009 at 12:41 PM, 12 Companies of Los Angeles Firefighters, 5 LAFD Rescue Ambulances, 1 Arson Unit, 2 Urban Search and Rescue Units, 3 EMS Battalion Captains, 3 Battalion Chief Officer Command Teams and 1 Division Chief Officer Command Team, a total of 90 Los Angeles Fire Department personnel under the direction of Battalion Chief Peter Benesch, responded to a Greater Alarm Structure Fire at 11142 Fleetwood Street in Sun Valley.

Firefighters arrived quickly to discover smoke showing from a 100' x 355' multi-unit one story commercial structure.


View Larger Map (you can also click, grab and zoom the pre-fire image above)
Forcing entry through the off-street rolling steel doors of the unoccupied building, firefighters encountered intense flames that had taken hold of storage at an artistic pottery company.

Simultaneous vertical ventilation by firefighters atop the 35,500 square foot structure allowed their colleagues to rapidly advance hoselines, limit horizontal fire spread and extinguish the flames before they could damage the firm's office in the non-fire sprinklered building.

The flames were confined to the business of origin, and extinguished in just 31 minutes.

There were no injuries.

Fire loss to 'Funky Fish' is estimated at $125,000 ($25,000 structure & $100,000 contents). The cause of the blaze remains under investigation.


Submitted by Brian Humphrey, Spokesman
Los Angeles Fire Department

READ MORE - Sun Valley Fire Quickly Tackled by LAFD