Firefighters in Saskatchewan have been lobbying for decades for better cancer coverage. Now, the Saskatchewan Workers Compensation Board (WCB) is stepping in to provide some relief.
Saskatchewan firefighters are now eligible for WCB coverage for up to 22 types of cancer, six more than before.
Tyler Packham has spent the last 23 years of his life as a firefighter in Regina and has already had a brush with cancer.
Packham was screened at a firefighting conference and was found to have nodules on his thyroid. He had to have surgery to get them removed.
“They only took out my thyroid, so I’m still dealing with nodules on the other side,” Packham said. “[I’m] hoping that they doesn’t progress to cancer.”
The World Health Organization declared firefighting a Group 1 carcinogen two years …