Expanded insurance coverage
‘Firefighters are nine per cent more likely to get cancer’: Union leader
Brian McKay had been a firefighter for 24 years when he died from pancreatic cancer in January 2019.
He was diagnosed only
4.5 months beforehand “so perhaps early diagnosis would have helped him, it's hard to say,” his wife Heather said March 22 after the Nova Scotia government announced the expansion of cancer liability coverage for firefighters.
The Workers' Compensation Act will be amended to provide presumptive coverage for esophageal, lung, testicular, ureter, breast, multiple myeloma, prostate, skin, ovarian, cervical, penile, thyroid, and pancreatic.
Before now only bladder, brain, colorectal and kidney cancer, leukemia and nonHodgkin's lymphoma had been covered.
The new coverage also will include heart attacks that occur within 24 hours of an emergency call.
‘CRITICAL’ SUPPORT
A former radio technician with the military reserves, McKay began volunteering as a firefighter in 1995 before making it a career in 2000 out of Station 21 in Lake Echo.
“I'm happy about this announcement because it's too late for my husband to benefit but his colleagues, his brothers and sisters that follow, it's important to them,” Heather McKay said amid the hubbub of firefighters, politicians and others who filled Station 17 in Cole
announcement. Harbour for the
“This kind of financial benefit that it may give them is really wonderful but it's the other things too. The prospect of early testing for people within this profession, that's critical and to help them, all they need to decontaminate their gear and themselves after a call, that's really important.”
The province will spend $80.6 million during the next four years on the entire liability program for firefighters: $67.4 million in initial liability costs for municipalities in 2021-22, and $4.4 million in annual liability costs for 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
The expanded coverage will take effect July 1 retroactive to a cancer diagnosis made as early as July 1, 2021.
Municipalities will not incur costs for the additional coverage until 2025-26.
‘A HUGE STEP’
It was an emotional day that was a long time coming for firefighters who have lobbied for the expansion for many years. After giving McKay a tearful hug, Capt. Paul Edwards said it was “a huge step.”
Edwards is a cancer survivor, having been diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2013. Given that the cancer doesn't run in his family, he considers it an occupational injury. Firefighters are exposed to toxins in high-risk
situations on a regular basis. Occupational cancer is the leading cause of line-of-duty deaths for firefighters, according to the International Association of Fire Fighters.
“Just the announcement of walking into a doctor's office in November 2013 and telling you that you have intermediate cancer? It's a life-changing moment,” Edwards said.'
He has private insurance that helps cushion the costs of treatment and living with cancer but he said many firefighters do not. Edwards said the expansion of coverage into cancers that affect female firefighters was particularly welcome given their increasing presence in
fire departments.
HIGHER RISK
“Firefighters are an invaluable part of our community,” said Health Minister Michelle Thompson, who announced the coverage expansion with Labour Minister Jill Balser. “And unfortunately your necessary work puts you at risk. We have a moral obligation to ensure firefighters have an appropriate level of insurance and health coverage.”
Capt. Brendan Meagher, president of Halifax Professional Firefighters, IAFF Local 268, told the gathering he and other advocates met in 2019 with then-opposition leader Tim Houston, who promised to do what he could on the issue.
"Tim Houston kept his word to us and we are so appreciative of that."
Struggling to contain his emotions at times when he spoke of colleagues, such as Brian McKay, lost to cancer, Meagher said occupational cancer accounts for 86 per cent of firefighter deaths in Canada.
"Despite being among the healthiest members of society upon intake into their profession, firefighters are nine per cent more likely to get cancer than non-fighters and 14 per cent more likely to die of cancer. As science has evolved, the picture of cancer risk to firefighters is becoming as clear as it is tragic."