Two groups give Boston police $500,000 to support health and wellness for officers

The City of Boston Credit Union gave $250,000 for police to create a health and wellness team.Boston Police Department

Two city organizations gave $500,000 this week for Boston police to help create a health and wellness team after several officers died of illness or suicide in 2018, officials said.

The City of Boston Credit Union and the Boston Police Runners Club gave the money to fund the Boston Police Department’s new health and wellness team, according to a joint statement Tuesday from the credit union, the runners club, Boston Police Commissioner William Gross, the Boston Police Detectives Benevolent Society, the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, and the Boston Police Superior Officers Federation.

The new team aims to improve the health and safety of Boston police officers, the statement said.

“This funding will help continue our work to create a healthier environment and wellness opportunities for the men and women of the department who are committed to serving our community every day,” Boston Police Sergeant Detective Cecil Jones, the director of the credit union and president of the runners club, said in the statement.

Boston police are creating a health and wellness team after several officers died in 2018 of heart attacks, strokes, cancer, and suicide, the statement said.

“The development of the HWT will allow health ambassadors to deploy across the city to develop personal relationships throughout the department — going district by district and division by division — identifying the concerns of first responders to better align resources with individual and group needs,” the statement said.

The team will offer programs, resources, and referral services to police, the statement said.

“No one in our community should feel alone — most especially those that answer the call every day to protect and serve us, our neighbors and our city. We can do more and together with the commissioner and his staff, we will find better ways to support our officers,” Daniel E. Waltz, the credit union’s president and chief executive, said in the statement.