'The science is there': N.L. firefighter advocates for more cancer insurance coverage
CBC
For a little over 20 years, Jim O'Toole has been a firefighter with the St. John's Regional Fire Department.
It's a job he loves.
"It's been a great career. I can't say anything negative. I've enjoyed every morning that I've gotten up to go to work over the last 20 years," said O'Toole.
But in 2018, his life changed, after getting two medical diagnoses in five months.
First, kidney cancer. Then melanoma, a type of skin cancer — something O'Toole still deals with today.
He isn't the only firefighter with this story.
Possible causes come from exposure to smoke and gases from fires, and to asbestos in old buildings, but also from 24-hour shifts, says Demers.
"Firefighters now are much better protected than they were in the past. There actually is equipment that will provide them with oxygen and will prevent them from breathing in things," he said.
"At the end of a fire, often firefighters have to remove their masks to breathe easier, and sometimes there's still different types of gases … in the air."
According to Demers, firefighters' cancer risk has been the subject of about 50 different studies, but said it's still difficult to make generalizations.
"Depending upon what's being burned, that smoke can contain different things. It's not necessarily the same for every fire," he said.
"We often look at the number of years people have spent fighting fires. But some firefighters work at stations where they only rarely go out for a fire," said Demers. "Some firefighters fight industrial fires, which are … much more complex and scary."
Colon, prostate and testicular cancer, but also melanoma and mesothelioma, a cancer caused by exposure to asbestos, are more commonly seen in studies of cancer in firefighters, said Demers.
O'Toole's kidney cancer is covered under provincial legislation, but his melanoma wasn't — until he fought and won to get it for himself.
P.E.I.'s Public Schools Branch is looking for 50 substitute bus drivers, and it'll be recruiting at three job fairs on Saturday, June 8. The job fairs are located at the Atlantic Superstore in Montague, Royalty Crossing in Charlottetown, and the bus parking lot of Three Oaks Senior High in Summerside. All three run from 9 a.m. until noon. Dave Gillis, the director of transportation and risk management for the Public Schools Branch, said the number of substitute drivers they're hiring isn't unusual. "We are always looking for more. Our drivers tend to have an older demographic," he said.