A cancer screening program for city employees was expanded yesterday by the Chico City Council. Free testing is now available for firefighters of all ages, as well as police officers.
Emergency responders are frequently exposed to chemicals and other hazards that increase their chance of developing cancer.
“Early detection is what we want to do – get ahead of it. Careers can be preserved. Personal and family impacts are immense.”- Steve Standridge, Chico Fire Chief
Since 2023, the city has offered free cancer screenings to firefighters using a test developed by GRAIL. It’s considered to be simpler than other screenings because it’s quick and only requires blood.
The test can detect over 50 forms of cancer before it becomes symptomatic.
“Early detection is what we want to do – get ahead of it.” Fire Chief Steve Standridge said. “Careers can be preserved. Personal and family impacts are immense.”
Firefighters with the city previously had to meet certain eligibility requirements to qualify for a free screening. They had to be over 35, and must have had at least five years of service.
Standridge said even with those restrictions in place, 30 firefighters were tested during the first year of the program. The next year, 37 were tested. There are currently a total of 60 full-time employees at the Chico Fire Department.
The results of the screenings are not publicly available because it is private health information. But Standridge said he knows at least one person has gotten a positive result so far.
Since the program began in 2023, a little over $40,000 has gone toward it.
“The men and women of public safety deserve the best when it comes to cancer screening,” council member Mike O’Brien said. “The best should not cost them anything, since they're the ones that put their lives on the line for us.”
The council agreed 6-1 to expand the program to all firefighters and police.
The estimated yearly cost will quadruple as a result, from about $26,000 each year to $114,000. It would have cost $40,000 annually to expand the program only to all firefighters.
Council member Addison Winslow was the sole dissenting vote. He wanted to see more concrete data about which groups of city workers are at highest risk.
“I would at least like to see a more realistic comparison with actual data on which of our employees are most at-risk, in order for us to start selecting employee groups and giving them special benefits.”- Addison Winslow, Chico City Council member
Firefighters have a 9% higher risk of being diagnosed with cancer than the average person, according to Standridge. But the fire chief did not have numbers on how often police officers develop cancer.
“Unfortunately, there is no data available that we could find for police officers, but we know they have a higher percentage of cancer as well,” he said.
Between 2018 and 2021, three emergency responders in Chico are known to have died from cancer caused by a work-related exposure. Two were firefighters and the other was a police officer.
“I would at least like to see a more realistic comparison with actual data on which of our employees are most at-risk, in order for us to start selecting employee groups and giving them special benefits,” Winslow said.
Before voting, council member Katie Hawley suggested including some public works employees as well.
“This program [should] be extended to our public works members who are at high risk exposure, because, as we know, they are working with a whole plethora of chemicals on the job as well,” Hawley said.
Her suggestion was turned down because the cost to expand the program to them was not calculated before the meeting, and there was a lack of data on the cancer rates experienced by public works employees.
O’Brien is the former police chief. He brought the item onto the agenda for discussion.
“I would like to have a little bit more data, we have not looked into the cost or the higher rate of cancer for that group,” O’Brien said.
The city council agreed to revisit the topic again in six months and consider expanding the program to include more city employees.
