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S.F. FIREFIGHTERS CANCER
PREVENTION FOUNDATION UPDATE |
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| By Tony Stefani, Board Chair | ||||||
| The San Francisco Firefighters Cancer Prevention Foundation, in conjunction with UCSF, is in the initial phases of putting together a longitudinal cancer study that will follow a firefighter throughout his or her career and into retirement. This will be a voluntary study that will also be offered to our retirees. What will be required by those who want to participate is a commitment to do the necessary yearly paperwork and to show up for your yearly appointment. It is critical that a firm commitment be made. The reason for this is that after a two-year period with a good track record of participants we will be able to apply for Federal funds from the National Institute of Health. The grant writing will be done by UCSF.
With an established study such as this, the door will be open for more major research and development companies to put their products for early detection of cancer to work. This will enable us to be at the forefront for early cancer detection. The doctors at UCSF are extremely excited about this program. It not only benefits us but it also benefits UCSF. Our Board of Directors is also very concerned about the workers compensation issue with regard to the every-rising rate of cancer in our firefighters. The San Francisco Retirement System has not adopted the firefighters cancer presumption bill. Without the cancer presumption, the burden remains on the applicant to prove that his or her cancer is industrial related. You would think that a City that tries to be so compassionate to humankind would have some compassion for its firefighters. We, as a Foundation, will do our best to address this issue. We will also publish the statistics from our cancer screening study as soon as it becomes available from UCSF. This is the first study of many to come in our longitudinal studies program. |
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| Photos by Stan Lee | ||||||