Halifax firefighters' union asks city to pay for cancer screenings at private clinics

The Halifax firefighters' union is asking the municipality to pay for preventive cancer screenings at private clinics, after they say members were denied through the provincial health system.

Brendan Meagher, president of the Halifax Professional Fire Fighters Association, made the request to councillors at a budget committee meeting Wednesday.

Meagher said the union has had members in their 40s, who are healthy, ask for blood work or other tests that screen for various cancers but "they're not approved currently through the health-care system."

"We're asking for the help to gain the peace of mind, and the actual access to life-saving medical diagnostic technology," Meagher told reporters outside the meeting.

He said he knows the issue is on Premier Tim Houston's radar, but the union has been working on it for the past two years and hasn't seen changes yet.

Until they can "bridge the gap provincially," Meagher said, the union wants the municipality to fund a program that would pay for some firefighters to go to local private clinics.

The union said about $735 per firefighter would cover multiple services, including a physician's medical exam, urinalysis, tests for prostate and colorectal cancer, X-rays and blood work.

The project would cover about 300 career and 150 volunteer firefighters with more than 10 years of experience, Meagher said, and have them tested every two years within a four-year program. 

This would cost the city about $200,000 a year, he said.

Research from the United States has shown firefighters are 14 per cent more likely to die from cancer than the general public. Cancer is also the leading cause of work-related deaths for Canadian firefighters.

"We're coming out of these fires and we smell the smoke coming out of our skin for days afterwards. It's constantly on my mind while I'm in the fire, I'm aware of the conditions and I'm also aware of my exposure," Meagher said.

This kind of screening, Meagher said, might have helped Capt. Billy Marr, who died of colorectal cancer at 46 years old last April. 

"Our ultimate goal is to not see that happen again when it's preventable," Meagher said.

CBC has asked the province for a reaction to the union's request and will update this story with any response.

Coun. Becky Kent asked for the union to share more details and a formal request that councillors could review.

"It's about the money but it's also about what is the benefit of the money, where is it going to go," Kent said.

The union's request is outside of the regular Halifax Fire budget for this year, which will be discussed Friday, but a councillor could bring it up over the next few weeks of debate.

The final budget is decided in April.