Hialeah Mayor Esteban Bovo and the University of Miami's Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center have launched a new way to fight cancer on National Firefighter Cancer Awareness Month.
"First responders, particularly firefighters, are exposed to chemicals and other harmful elements that come back to haunt them later in the form of cancer," Bovo said during a news conference on Wednesday morning.
Captain Paul Garcia of the Hialeah Fire Department was one of the first firefighters to get a screening for general health and cancer done in the new mobile hospital room provided by the University of Miami.
"Many times, we get off shift, we're tired, we're beat up from running all night, and now knowing that this truck is coming to us and the fire departments making sure that everybody is rotated through and checked and screened that just shows us how much they care and how truly it is a priority," Garcia said.
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The screenings are free of charge to all firefighters and the new medical van will be making stops at all firehouses in Miami-Dade County doing health checks on more than a thousand firefighters.
