GEORGETOWN, Ky. (LEX 18) — For the first time, the Georgetown Fire Department is screening around 20 first responders for cancer. Today's screening is being done by Grail's Galleri Multi-Cancer Early Detection blood tests.
Georgetown Fire Chief Tim Thompson says, "Why it's so important and so crucial, is that firefighters just have a tremendously increased risk of cancer, and the hope is that we can catch something early, God forbid somebody did have cancer."
Firefighters are at a higher risk for cancer and other career-related illnesses. That’s why this test that's able to detect 51 different types of cancer is so essential.
Chief Thompson shares, "Johnnie Jacobs was a battalion chief and he actually had a lung disease, it was just from the contaminants that he was breathing in, and he was a tremendous person, a tremendous mentor to me personally. He was my battalion chief when I was a captain. He always taught me personally and — the guys that was under his — that worked for him, was to take care of your people. And that's honestly what we're trying to do right now is take care of the people that we have."
While Battalion Chief Jacobs didn't pass away from cancer, Chief Thompson says he knows he'd be proud of the early detection program. Chief Thompson worked with the city's mayor and city council to get funding for these tests — for firefighters with 10 or more years of service or that are 40 years or older.
Georgetown Mayor Burney Jenkins says, "We want to be more proactive; we don't want to wait for something bad to happen, then do something. So, we want to get out in front of it."
State Representative Cherlynn Stevenson shares, "This is absolutely the least that we can do, is to turn around and try to help them to strive for early detection."
Chief Thompson wants the community to remember the risks firefighters take every day and he doesn't want their health to be an added worry.
He says, "They have a very tough job. What they see is stressful, so they battle a lot of different things when it comes to PTSD and these other things. So, it's a very taxing job and cancer is one of those things that can affect you."
Georgetown’s community is working together to try to save more lives.
