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South Brunswick Police Department becomes the model agency for health and wellness. The growing national trend for increased awareness of employees’ health took another leap forward when South Brunswick Police Chief Raymond Hayducka created a Wellness Committee to improve the department. “We need to help officers improve their resiliency. The demands on being a good police officer are constantly evolving. What worked 10 years ago will not cut it today. Providing officers with the knowledge and skills to face the challenges today and in the future was my goal in creating these new trainings,” said Chief Hayducka. Patrol Officer First Class (PFC) Ryan Bartunek a member of the Wellness Committee explained that one of the biggest challenges they found was nutrition. “The ups and downs of police work, combined with the work schedules place unnatural demands on officers’ bodies. Officers want to eat healthy, but it is not always easy, so we brought in a nutritionist,” said Bartunek.
 
Michele Zandman- Frankel and Randy Frankel the owner of Revolutionize Nutrition came in and provided two days of seminars for officers and staff.  “We were the first recognized nutritionist to train officers at police academies in New Jersey. The academies were seeing young officers do intense work outs and struggle to recover. By educating the officers they improved their performance,” said Michele Zandman- Frankel.
 
Revolutionize explained that by improving nutrition officers can lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, decrease risk of cancers, increase their ability to focus, and develop improved resiliency. They detailed how to eat healthy even while working round the clock. “We know eating healthy at 4 am is tough, but we provided good choices for every place from WaWa to McDonalds. If the officers know their options they can make good choices,” said Zandman-Frankel. She added that one of the biggest challenges to nutrition is hydration. Officers need to drink half a gallon (8 cups) of water a day. Revolutionize Nutrition has an office in Manalapan and offered to do a full assessment for any officers or staff looking to improve their conditioning and well-being.
 
PFC Bartunek explained that the seminars detailed the importance of sleep and working out for officers. “Shift work is a challenge for all officers. We know that officers who stay in shape, workout, eat proper, and get enough rest are able to sustain themselves in any challenge,” said Bartunek. We had 85 officers and staff attend the two seminars and the reviews were excellent. “Officers were thankful the department provided the seminars and thought it would help them throughout their careers,” said Bartunek.
 
PFC Bartunek said, “Wellness and resiliency are a never ending area we need to develop. The Chief has given us clear direction to keep pushing forward with ways to improve. We developed a new work out room, presented speakers on officers’ resiliency, and now nutrition. We want to stay at the forefront of officer wellness.”