$79 Easy DOT Physical Exam Grand Junction Colorado

DOT Physical Grand Junction Montrose Delta Rifle Glenwood

DOT Physical Instructions

We want to make your DOT Exam a smooth, seamless process and we want you to pass your exam.

We are a separate business located within the COOR Wellness building between Patterson and Orchard Ave on the east side of the 12th Street.

To Do List

  1. Look for a separate email &/or text message to complete the health history. This necessary document you complete for every DOT exam (even if you have done one before). If you cannot do it through your phone or computer, you can call our remote team and they can ask you the questions over the phone (970-712-8193).
  2. Complete a separate brief electronic form called your Privacy Policy. Click HERE to complete that information. You will receive another email to sign this form electronically from an email company called Sign Request (similar to Docusign).
  3. Reply to this email if you have a medical condition that may affect your DOT Medical Card and you need guidance on what to bring to improve your chances of passing.
  4. Shower & clean your ears out.
  5. Arrive hydrated with water so you can provide a urine sample (it is not a drug test, but marijuana is a disqualifying substance even though it is legal to use in Colorado)
  6. Bring medications or a list of medications with your dosage and reason for taking it
    • If you are taking prescription medications CLICK HERE to download the new DOT Medication Form for your prescribing provider to complete before you arrive. While this isn’t 100% necessary, having it completed and to us before your arrival significantly increases your chances of passing.
  7. If you use a CPAP for Sleep Apnea, contact the company who gave you the CPAP machine to print your compliance log.

Don’t List

  • Do not use tobacco or caffeine for 2 hours before your exam
  • Do not tell us you were not aware marijuana is disqualifying

Call us if you have any questions at 970-712-8193

Pre-Exam Checklists

If you have one of the conditions below, please click the link and print the checklist on what to bring to prepare for your exam:

High Blood Pressure – this is the most common reason people get less than a 2 year card. CLICK HERE to learn how to lower your BP naturally and come prepared to pass.

Diabetes – if you use Insulin for Diabetes, you will want to read the checklist by CLICKING HERE and have your doctor complete this necessary form – CLICK HERE for the new required form for Insulin treated Diabetes. For diabetics who do not use insulin, please read the checklist and bring those items.

Heart Attack – Myocardial Infarction – there are specific things that you can bring that will improve the chances of you passing after you’ve had a heart attack CLICK HERE FOR THE CHECKLIST

Know Your Health

The better you know how your medical conditions affect your certification length, the more likely you will pass your exam. Just because you pay for your exam does not mean you will pass. You want to research your conditions before you arrive.

There are a few places you can do this.
CLICK HERE to purchase the #1 authority on the DOT Physical. This is the text book that guides medical examiners and their decision making. If you have a medical condition, you will want to look it up in this book.

CLICK HERE to research your medical conditions in the 2014 Medical Handbook issued by the FMCSA.

CLICK HERE to research your medical conditions in the new Medical Handbook being drafted by the FMCSA.

If you’re interested in quitting smoking, check out the best way by clicking HERE

6 Ways Truck Drivers Can Get Restful Sleep

6 Ways Truck Drivers Can Get Restful Sleep (and improve sleep apnea without a CPAP or drugs)!

Many commercial drivers face the challenge of managing consistent sleep.  On top of that, some even struggle with sleep apnea. With overnight drives, social isolation, and inconsistent working hours, drivers who have obstructive sleep apnea are still driving through sleeplessness.  As a result, the driver can fall asleep at the wheel, culminating in deadly crashes and incurring major equipment and infrastructure costs.  

Some drivers sleep with a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Therapy (CPAP) machine to get adequate sleep to help prevent them from falling asleep at the wheel. Some drivers use anti-sleep drugs while driving and sleep-aid drugs for sleeping.  However, these drugs might cause some severe health issues – and even addiction. First Aid Occupational Health, your DOT Physical exam specialist, has some natural methods for drivers to help reduce sleeping challenges.

Ensure a proper sleeping position

For long haulers, drivers can become over-tired, making it hard to fall asleep. Thus, the first thing a driver can address is her or her sleeping posture. Try to elevate your head slightly and sleep on your side.  This can reduce snoring and sleep disruptions.

Use a humidifier

In dry areas, when a humidifier is running while you are sleeping, breathing can become easier, lessening the chances of snoring, which can cause sleeping disruptions. Also, consider adding a diffuser with your favorite essential oil scent, as it can calm your body and muscles for more sound sleep.

Lose weight

Being overweight is one of the major causes of sleep apnea.  By its nature, driving limits physical activity and it’s easy to consume extra food and put on weight. When you stop for a break, try doing a brisk 10-minute walk around the truck stop to get the blood pumping.  

Reduce or eliminate tobacco and alcohol products

Both tobacco and alcohol cause the release of hormones just like a fight or flight situation. This can place the body in an active mode, making falling asleep and getting restful sleep a chore. Ensure you have a wind-down period in which there is no substance consumption before sleeping.

Choose healthier food options

Some drivers have heartburn and digestion problems as a result of poor food choices on the road.  This makes it hard to sleep. Try replacing a processed sugar snack by pre-planning.  Have healthy whole food options on hand during your trip such as fresh fruit, avocados, or crunchy vegetables like carrots or broccoli in order to reduce heartburn and digestion problems.  

Hire a Health Coach

Did you know that First Aid Occupational Health now has a certified health and wellness coaching program to help improve your health while you’re on the road? Health coaches help you set weekly goals and help hold you accountable so you can achieve your goals. Coaching call help you implement the strategies mentioned in this article. Call (970) 812-3864 today for a free consultation or visit www.firstaidocchealth.com to inquire.  Your company may even pay for the program!

Safety Driving Tips For Commercial Drivers

Commercial driving is a risky, and error prone endeavor that is often associated to be devoid of emotional control. So, exactly what are the issues that cause so much stress in drivers? Driving can potentially be a stressful experience. Moreover, anyone behind the wheel, whether commercial or personal faces unpredictable variables that otherwise cannot be controlled like weather conditions – can be minor, traffic, fatigue, and psychological health problems which can be more challenging. It is important for commercial drivers to drive safely. Here are some safety driving tips for commercial drivers.

Cost of Road Rage

Through evolution, our bodies have been designed around a simple fight-or-flight mechanism, in relation to stressful situations. Sitting in a car ultimately results to stress build up since there is no physical outlet. We can neither fight nor run, therefore tension simply builds up with no obvious outlet.

When an outlet does present itself, for example on another driver who is being irritable, there’s a potential danger of reacting aggressively leading to the so-called road rage.

Typical drivers exhibit this rage in three different ways, as the aggressor; who takes extreme actions against other motorists, making it well known he/she has been wronged. The Communicator; who simply communicates his/her displeasure and take no action through making vulgar statements and gestures or even honking the horn frantically. Finally, the silent avenger who has the potential of becoming an aggressor or a communicator

The cost of road rage is huge often resulting in loss of lives and livelihoods (loss of insurance and jobs, in the case of a commercial driver) through accidents.

Manage Your Emotions, Lower StressSafety Driving Tips For Commercial Drivers

Your emotions, such as anger and grief, are the hidden causes of high blood pressure, the number 1 health problem for commercial drivers. While high blood pressure is caused by other factors like body chemical imbalances, unhealthy diet, or excessive weight, but it also reflects another major cause, bottled up anger and/or grief.

Luckily, there are practices that one can use to help defuse anger and manage grief to subsequently reduce blood pressure naturally. As a commercial driver, please consider these 7 strategies to manage your emotions as you drive:

  1. Remind yourself that you’re in control of yourself, your emotions and your vehicle.
  2. Recognize that it’s not your duty to manage other drivers’ behavior. Every driver is their own person and thoughts.
  3. Stay cool and always drive defensively. Be on the lookout for drivers who are going too fast, traveling too close or driving erratically. If you notice a driver driving in a manner to suggest unsafely, keep your cool and drive away, or drive off the road for a moment, let them pass and continue.
  4. Plan to enjoy your trip however it presents itself. Play your favorite jams. Have your non-alcoholic chilled beverage etc.
  5. Keep your distance both physically and emotionally. Give plenty of room between yourself and the vehicle in front of you.
  6. Set an example. Be the man, take the high road by showing others about what driving safe entails.
  7. Learn to let it go. Regardless of the other drivers’ irritability, always learn to let go of any negative feelings creeping in.

Learn more about driving safely and schedule your DOT Physical Exam in Grand Junction

Here is how the process works:

  1. Schedule and pay for your exam by clicking here
  2. Arrive ready to complete minimal paperwork
  3. We’ll do a thorough examination and determine your certification length
  4. Also, you have the option of having us recommend wellness strategies that’ll improve your health

Make life easier by scheduling and paying for your DOT Physical in Grand Junction, Colorado at www.dotgj.com and save $10

Healthy Eating For Truck Drivers

As a truck driver possibly you are thinking, with these long hours I put on the road, how can I maintain a healthy lifestyle in terms of food? Well, Healthy Eating For Truck DriveHealthy Eating For Truck Driversrs is not impossible, please read on to understand why.

It has been suggested that road truck drivers have an advantage in achieving a healthy eating lifestyle compared to office workers. Maybe its access to different restaurants along the long roads, or being able to cook with your portable stoves as you camp under the night sky, or maybe it’s that there is no stress on the open road, ensuring you don’t eat unnecessarily and unhealthy. When it comes to healthy eating habits, the core aspect is being realistic and commitment to changing your eating habits. It is unnecessary to go way overboard with all that fancy organic, low fat diet, gluten free, and sugar free and everything-free, basically a monk’s cuisine.

Instead be realistic and just eat what you need at the right time. Here are some tips to help you out;

  1. Start your day Big and end it Small

This is in tandem with the necessary daily energy requirements, it doesn’t make sense eating a huge supper only to go to sleep and skipping out on breakfast. Unless you are exercising in your sleep, eat small portions before bedtime. As you start your day keep in mind you need energy for your day and eating a huge healthy portion in the morning will do you just right.

  1. Ditch the Soda for water

Soda is a big contributor to weight gain, cutting back on soda might actually help you shed off some pounds. As you drink that soda, your body is tricked into thinking its hungry, always asking for more food, thus increasing your weight. Water, on the other hand, disciplines your tummy, sharpening its sense of hunger and fullness.

  1. Get that portable stove

Cooking your own food is better, since you control your ingredients, also it’s not that difficult, cooking a one person’s meal, and you can cook in bulk and store it in a hot pot, keeping it fresh up to the next day, at lunch time.

  1. Temet Nosce (Know Thyself)

Knowing yourself provides the opportunity to adjust yourself and develop healthy eating habits. Do you snack because you are bored? Find a hobby to keep you off snacking carelessly, or rather snack in fruits and whole cereals.

But essentially know your weaknesses to plot their downfall.

By tackling these four bits, you will be on your road to healthy eating success.

So what is a good Diet plan?

A popular question no doubt, different people offer different answers depending on their viewpoint. Ideally a good diet consists of quality nutrient-filled foods with low saturated trans-fats. It should also be highly composite of protein and fiber. Examples of good protein are chicken and beans. Fiber is also in beans, vegetables and fruits.

To help you figure out healthy eating check out this list of certified professionals. These providers have great training in helping people plan healthy diets and eating habits.

Learn more about eating healthy and schedule your DOT Physical Exam in Grand Junction

Here is how the process works:

  1. Schedule and pay for your exam by clicking here
  2. Arrive ready to complete minimal paperwork
  3. We’ll do a thorough examination and determine your certification length
  4. Also, you have the option of having us recommend wellness strategies that’ll improve your health

Make life easier by scheduling and paying for your DOT Physical in Grand Junction, Colorado at www.dotgj.com and save $10

 

Acute Myocardial Infarction

An acute myocardial infarction is just a fancy term for heart attack. It occurs when a section of the heart muscle becomes blocked and affects the flow of the oxygen rich blood. Furthermore, if this happens and isn’t restored fast enough, that section of the heart muscle begins to die.

Symptoms

Acute Myocardial Infarction
Acute Myocardial Infarction

Common warning signs or symptoms are:

  • Chest pain or discomfort – discomfort is often in the center or left side of the chest and lasts a few minutes
  • Shortness of breath – can occur with chest pain or discomfort while resting or after being physically active
  • Upper body discomfort – can be pain or discomfort in the arms, shoulders, back or neck

Other possible symptoms also include:

  • feeling unusually tired and sluggish
  • light headedness/dizziness
  • Nausea/vomiting

For more information about myocardial infarction, also check out this article on PubMed Health.

How it Affects your DOT Physical Exam

First of all to be physically qualified to drive a commercial motor vehicle you must have no current clinical diagnosis of myocardial infarction. However, if you experience a heart attack you still can be certified if you are being monitored and stabilized on medication.

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the maximum certification length for someone who has had a heart attack is 1 year if the driver:

  • is asymptomatic
  • tolerates medications
  • obtains a satisfactory exercise tolerance test (ETT)
  • receives a resting left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) greater than or equal to 40%
  • has no electrocardiogram ischemic changes

In addition you will need to bring a medical clearance letter from a cardiovascular specialist who understands the functions and demands of commercial driving to your DOT physical exam.

Consequently a driver will not be certified due to any of the following:

  • chest pain at rest or change in chest pain patterns within 3 months of examination
  • ischemic changes on rest electrocardiogram (ECG)
  • intolerance to cardiovascular therapy and medications

Schedule Your DOT Physical Exam in Grand Junction

Here is how the process works:

  1. Schedule and pay for your exam by clicking here
  2. Arrive ready to complete minimal paperwork
  3. We’ll do a thorough examination and determine your certification length
  4. Also, you have the option of having us recommend wellness strategies that’ll improve your health

Make life easier by scheduling and paying for your DOT Physical in Grand Junction, Colorado at www.dotgj.com and save $10