February 7, 2020
Hello South Carolina Firefighters,
My name is Tracy Williams, and I’m serving as your chairperson for your Health and Safety Committee. The South Carolina State Firefighters’ Association Constitution and By-Laws state under Section 2. Standing Committees that the Health and Safety Committee function is to serve as the advocate for and promoter of the physical and mental well being of the Association members. Your Health and Safety Committee is ready to help you our members of the Association. Your Health and Safety Committee is made up of the following members; Franklin Cloninger, Rick Dangerfield, Mike Medeiros, Mike Hanuscin, Le Hendrick, and our SCSFA Staff Liaison is Jana Kassianos.
The Health and Safety Committee is happy to report that we have achieved half of our goals that we set forth in 2019-2020 and we anticipate completing the others by Fire-Rescue 2020. Our goals:
-To work on building State and Federal relationships to promote physical and wellbeing for you, our members.
-Achieved through the collaboration of several groups to form the South Carolina Firefighter Cancer Coalition
-Focusing on firefighter cancer, prevention, and health by collecting data to help build our relationships.
-Introduce firefighter cancer legislation that will benefit Volunteer & Career Firefighters
-Achieved this week, February 4, 2020 with the introduction of Senate bill - S.1071 “Firefighter Cancer Health Care Benefit Plan”. I anticipate the House will introduce its bill in the coming week.
-Continue to work on This Is My Fight Campaign, and to work on a new concept of “Best Practices” videos that discuss cancer, safety, and health-related issues.
-To work on a future one-day Health & Safety Summit for education for our members.
According to the CDC, estimates between October 1, 2019, through January 4, 2020, there could be 4,800-12,000 flu deaths. As of January 16, 2020, 34 flu related deaths have been reported in South Carolina. The H&S committee asks that our South Carolina firefighters take three actions to protect against the flu.-Get Vaccinated
-Take Preventive Steps
-Seek Treatment
I wanted to take a few minutes of your time to give you our members a few details on what your Health and Safety Committee is working on for this upcoming year. I hope to see you at our forthcoming SCSFA Fire Service Improvement Conference, Legislative Day, and, finally, our upcoming Fire-Rescue 2020 Conference. I ask you to be careful, be healthy, and be safe! If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me by email: [email protected].
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