VIDEO: A new pilot program at St. Elizabeth Healthcare is offering specialized lung cancer screening for firefighters, addressing the hidden dangers they face long after the flames are extinguished.
We were there as Union Fire Chief Aaron Gruelle received a low-dose CT lung cancer screening, becoming the first participant in the pilot program.
“It’s easy. It’s quick to do and it’s now available,” Gruelle said. “I want to be an advocate for it, and the only way I can do it is if I have real-world experience.”
The three-minute CT scan represents a critical tool in fighting a threat that kills more firefighters than fires themselves. Cancer is now the number one cause of line-of-duty death among firefighters, according to the International Association of Firefighters.
“The importance with any kind of cancer screening is to catch it early, and firefighters are 9% more likely to get cancer than the general population, and they’re 14% more likely to die from cancer than the general population,” Gieske said.
