A thumbs up from the Atlantic Provinces Professional Firefighters Association to new funding.
The feds announced $12.29 million this week for the prevention and treatment of cancer for firefighters.
“Unfortunately in Canada for years, we had no national database that collected any kind of statistics on firefighters and health and wellness. So for years, we’ve been forced to utilize all the statistics they collect in the US, which don’t necessarily always translate to the experiences in Canada,” Association President Glenn Miller says.
A lot of firefighters develop cancer earlier in life, and it is now the leading cause of death among firefighters.
It isn’t because of the inhaled smoke though, “We absorb a lot of these materials through our skin, and they collect over time, and then we unfortunately develop cancers much earlier than any typical cancer would be developed in the general population,” Miller adds.
Certain cancers are extremely prevalent in the fire service including pancreatic cancer, bladder cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and testicular cancer.
“In some provinces, we recognize nine of those cancers currently, and in some provinces, they recognize that 22 of them are directly attributable to the job,” Miller adds.
The federal government has identified six framework pillars within its ‘National Framework on cancers linked to firefighting.’ A full list of those pillars can be found HERE.
Miller says it’s important to be proactive and take steps to address the issues, so when people start their careers as firefighters, they can be better prepared on how to protect themselves and make sure they’re doing their job safely.
“That’s not just with respect to contracting cancer, it’s how to protect your mental health. Make sure you’re doing your testing early, because we know, for instance, in certain cancers, if they’re detected earlier, the survival rates are completely different from when they’re detected late in life. I look at colon cancer, for instance. If detected early, it has a 91 per cent survival rate for five years. If it’s not detected, the survival rate is 15 per cent. Because we gained all this information, and we’re gaining more every day, we’re better able to protect our members from the job,” Miller stated.
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