Longboat Key Fire Rescue and other local fire departments teamed up with Sarasota Memorial’s Brian D. Jellison Cancer Institute to form the "Firefighter Cancer Collaborative.”
“I changed a lot of things when I found out I had cancer," said Jane Herrin, Longboat Key Fire Assistant Chief and Fire Marshal.
Herrin, a breast cancer survivor, said firefighting changed a lot in the 35-plus years she’s been on the job.
“Started out in fire service when we sometimes ran in without a mask. But times have gotten better. We've gotten smarter. We're educating people. We're educating the employees," Herrin said.
The collaboration was announced last Tuesday during a news conference at the Longboat Key Fire Rescue.
“All cancers are two hits, what you're born with and then environmental factor," said Dr. Richard Brown, the medical director of Jellison Cancer Institute.
Environmental factors are a major “hit” for public safety workers.
"Firefighters, by virtue of what they do, are at higher risk. There are a multitude of agents that you get exposed to on a daily basis that are carcinogenic," Brown said. "We know that there is around a 15% greater risk of developing or dying of cancer if you're a firefighter than the general population."
Helping firefighters understand their individual risks and educating them on the importance of early detection is key.
"Nobody wants to get a colonoscopy. Nobody wants to get it done, you know, but if you have a history of that in your family, you need to go get it done," Longboat Key Fire Chief Paul Dezzi said.
The collaboration’s navigation team is made up of experienced, certified oncology nurses, each dedicated to specific types of tumors.
"So as members of your team or their loved ones may have suspicious findings or a confirmed diagnosis of cancer. They now have a point person in our navigation team that they can go to ask questions," said Kelly Batista, executive director of Jellison Cancer Institute at Sarasota Memorial.
Firefighters are more likely to get certain cancers, including lung cancer, head and neck cancers, and gastrointestinal cancers, according to Brown.
