CHESTERFIELD, Va.-- Chesterfield County is helping the health of its first responders by providing free cancer screening to firefighters.
The cancer risk for firefighters is 9 percent higher than the general public, and they are 14 percent more likely to die from cancer.
"When you make that decision to sign up and become a firefighter, you're already making the decision or being okay with the fact that this may not be a positive outcome for me or my loved ones," explained Chesterfield Battalion Chief Jake Britt.
About half of Chesterfield County’s firefighters have received the Galleri multi-cancer early detection test, which is a simple blood draw.
That blood is then sent to a lab to screen for more than 50 different types of cancer, and this technology is a first of its kind.
Chesterfield is the first county in Central Virginia to offer this new testing to its firefighters.
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death for firefighters, accounting for 66 percent of line-of-duty fatalities from 2002 through 2009.
Britt explained that he’s lost fellow firefighters to the disease.
He received the Galleri test two days ago and got emotional when explaining how it could help him and his family.
"We leave the house, we kiss our family goodbye, and, and we live with that every day," noted Britt. "Good, bad, indifferent. And so part of this is, is helping to assuage some of that concern that we have as firefighters."
The testing runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday at the Eanes-Pittman Public Safety Training Center.
The county is planning a makeup date in June for firefighters that couldn’t make it out this week.
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