Current News & Events
By: Jocelyn Maminta for WTNH.com
New Haven, Conn. (WTNH) - A firefighter and a hometown hero in Wallingford has beaten incredible odds to get back to his job of saving lives.
Wallingford firefighter Rick Garrison is now in fairly good health and back at work thanks to a 'Work Hardening Program' after he faced two serious health issues.
Garrison had a heart attack almost a year and half ago, but that was just the beginning. "During that time of cardiac rehab and the medicines they put me on, I ended up finding out that I was bleeding," explained Wallingford Firefighter Rick Garrison.
That medical discovery lead to a diagnosis of stage three colo-rectal cancer. "There were times that I thought of worse things, that I might not be able to be around, let alone get back to work," said Garrison.
But the 24-year veteran is back at work after going through the 'Work Hardening Program' at Temple Physical Therapy in New Haven. The program is designed to slowly simulate real-life work experiences so people like Garrison can return as soon as possible. "The work hardening program is basically a program that is geared to get injured workers such as firefighters back to work," said Brian Hayes of Temple Physical Therapy. "The program is basically designed for people that have post surgical type of surgeries, also muscular strain and anybody; particularly Rick's case unfortunately, who had cancer and a heart attack."
Fortunately for Garrison, The New Haven Fire Department donated a lot of equipment so that he could simulate real life job tasks. "Everyday I felt myself getting stronger and we would add different exercises and more workload to get me back to my old self to be strong enough to go back to work," explained Garrison.
Garrison went on to say that he never let his illnesses physically get him down because he knew he could fight back. However, he said mentally it was tough. But friends and family were around to get him through it. "If I didn't do anything about it, if I didn't fight hard enough to get back on the job, I feel I would have let them down because they were all there for me," said Garrison.
Garrison went back to work just four days ago. The work hardening program he went through is similar to the Candidate Physical Ability Test given to all potential firefighters in the state.
