Sondra Hernandez Staff writer March 30, 2025

To better care for the mental and physical health of firefighters, a couple from The Woodlands is taking their 1st Response Family Clinic on the road to serve the first responders across more of Texas and beyond. 

Retired firefighter Jerry Bittner and his wife, Desi, a family nurse practitioner and former paramedic, launched the Conroe 1st Response Family Clinic in 2019. A Jersey Village location was added in 2023. 

On Friday morning, their new custom 53-foot mobile clinic was dedicated and will soon roll into service providing health and wellness care to first responders at fire stations in Texas and other states. 

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A legacy of public service 

Jerry Bittner, 62, came to The Woodlands in 1977 as his father went to work for Exxon. He joined a local volunteer fire department, then at age 20, he signed on with The Woodlands Fire Department and served 40 years before his retirement. 

Desi Bittner, 55, came to Texas from her native Mexico in 1977. She had always been attracted to working as a paramedic. She spent 13 years with The Woodlands Fire Department — where she met Jerry — and then pursued being a paramedic in the community. 

Desi was 40 when she suffered a Grade 4 subarachnoid hemorrhage, or bleeding on the surface of the brain. Her outlook was grim, and she spent a month in intensive care.

As she was fighting for her life with Jerry by her side, their firefighting family stepped in and helped care for their four children. 

“They were really our extended family,” she said. “When I recouped I told Jerry one day I wanted to repay the fire service for how they took care of us.” 

After her stroke, she became a nurse, then a nurse practitioner. She had the desire to open her own practice and Jerry eventually joined her in the project. 

Clinic launched

They dedicated the Conroe 1st Response Family Clinic on Sept. 11, 2019. It’s open to the public and also does firefighter physicals. 

“With Jerry’s connections in fire service we started doing those physicals and it has now turned into an exploding need that we didn’t see previously. Now we have 5,000 firemen under contract,” Desi said. The Jersey Village clinic primarily serves firefighters. 

They began to receive requests from outside the Houston area to conduct firefighter physicals, and the mobile clinic can now help meet that need. 

Their physicals program is sanctioned by the National Fire Protection Association, Jerry said, which wants firefighters to have a yearly comprehensive physical. 

The 3½-hour exam, paid for by participating departments, includes blood work, an ultrasound, a cardiac stress test and tests of the firefighters’ hearing, eyesight and pulmonary function. Following the screening, a nurse practitioner reviews the results and, if necessary, discusses ways to improve their health. The fire departments participating fund the physicals. 

The clinic also helps firefighters address mental health concerns stemming from the taxing nature of the job. 

“The fire service is really a big family. There are some distinct cultural aspects to being in the fire service, EMS or law enforcement,” Jerry said. “Being able to relate to a firefighter that may have some issues going on. Whatever that may be, we are extended family so we help them and walk with them through their treatments to get them the help they need.” 

For retired firefighters, the Firefighters Against Cancer Threats nonprofit helps provide for their care. 

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Mobile unit features

The new mobile unit allows caregivers to perform up to eight physicals a day, and it will stay with a fire department until all of its yearly physicals are complete. 

It has four rooms, for stress tests, physical assessments, ultrasounds, and the exam room and nurse practitioner’s office. 

Each room will be named for one of the Bittners’ friends felled by a health issue resulting from fire department work. They are Wayne Walker, Corby McKenzie, Jerry Magan and Alan Heulsabusch. The families of those firefighters were a part of Friday’s dedication. 

“Our mission is to make sure nobody else goes through this,” Jerry said. “We’re going to do our darndest to make sure our guys are healthy and the ones we see we’re going to help them with their careers and in their journey with their health.” 

The Conroe clinic is at 3401 W. Davis St., Suite H. The Jersey Village location is at 19708 Northwest Freeway, Suite 500.

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