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Arlington Fire 911 Communications Supervisor Michaela Jordon, left, and Luraco Technologies’ Robert Nelson unveil the massage chair at the 911 call center last year. (Courtesy photo | Luraco Technologies)
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An Arlington-based company wants to help reduce the stress experienced by first responders in the city — one massage chair at a time.

Luraco Technologies has started the Luraco Care Chair Program to provide relaxation, relief and rejuvenation for law enforcement, firefighters and rescue workers. 

“The people that put their lives on the line for us every day should be appreciated,” Luraco Chief Technology Officer Kevin Le said when the program was announced last year. “This is our way of showing our appreciation for the sacrifices they make on our behalf.”

The company also is offering the program in the city of Garland.

The program started when Luraco sales representative Robert Nelson realized that working with the city to lower the stress of first responders was a good way to get the company’s message out. Luraco Technologies has engineered and built products for the military as well as creating health and beauty products for salons since 2005. The company began producing massage chairs in 2017. 

Luraco’s massage chair is registered with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a medical massage device. The company says it is the only massage chair in the industry that holds Underwriters Laboratory certification for safety.

“I realized that it was like one of the best kept secrets,” Nelson said of the fact that Luraco is the only American manufacturer of massage chairs. “I said we have to get our message out in some kind of way. I began by saying, ‘Why don’t we connect and let’s see what we can do to help.’”

Luraco started out by donating an i9 Max series medical massage chair to the city of Arlington. A City Council member suggested that the fire department might have use for it, Nelson said. Then-Fire Chief Don Crowson decided to install the chair at the 911 dispatch center, where police and fire dispatchers are housed.

Crowson, who retired last year, knew the 911 dispatch center workers have stressful jobs and opted to place the chair there.

“We put the chair and I was astounded at the level of stress these people are under. I didn’t really realize that,” Nelson said. “It is a community endeavor, a public relations gesture.”

Dispatch center workers have told the company that the chairs are helpful. With call after call coming in, workers face a lot of stress and tension, Arlington Fire 911 Communications Supervisor Michaela Jordon said in a testimonial. 

“I believe that everyone that does this kind of emergency work should have a tool to help them deal with the stress of this job, like the Luraco massage chair to relieve the pressure and improve their performance,” Jordon said. 

Since that first chair, Nelson said he’s spoken before the Arlington City Council and other city officials about broadening the chair program to include all 17 fire stations and all five police stations in the city.

“We’ve been in conversations about how we go about positioning these chairs so that things could happen for the fire department, police department, first responders wherever we can,” Nelson said. 

He said he’s been in touch with Arlington Police Chief Al Jones about the chairs. In Garland, the city created a space called the “War Room” that has several different wellness modalities.

“They’ve got recliners, they’ve got soft lights, they have modalities to help these people eliminate their stress,” Nelson said. 

Garland launched the room last year on the 1-year anniversary of an officer’s death by suicide, he said. He said that Garland had a successful crowdfunding campaign.

Nelson said Luraco’s leadership saw the value of the program and wanted to start in the company’s hometown of Arlington.

Luraco recently hosted the Arlington Senior Men’s Club luncheon that was attended by several city and police officials at its manufacturing facility in Arlington. The club, which began in 1985 to further fellowship, education and charitable activities, is open to male residents of Arlington and contiguous communities who are 55 years old or older. 

In preparation for the event the company prepared a fundraising campaign for Care Chairs for Arlington firefighters. 

The company had an idea to create an incentive to help fund the chairs for emergency workers. If someone donated to the cause of providing chairs for police and fire, they would receive a discount on a Luraco massage chair.

Nelson said many police and fire departments have foundations that can assist in acquiring the chairs. Luraco’s objective, he said, is to show the community that there is a need it can support and that Luraco will do its part to support the city’s emergency responders.

Outreach about the incentive program to support first responders will result in two outcomes, he said. 

“One, we’ll become sensitive to the need that exists in our communities to care for those who care for us,” Nelson said. “Second, Arlington will become aware of therapeutic benefits of the Luraco medical massage in this chair that has been scientifically tested and proven to produce measurable health benefits.”

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