VANCOUVER -- A lieutenant in the Vancouver Fire Rescue Service is returning to work after a long recovery from a cancer likely tied to her job. She’s urging all women to keep up with their scheduled mammograms.
CTV News Vancouver caught up with Jennifer Dawkins on Wednesday as she made her first visit to a fire hall since December, when a routine mammogram resulted in a breast cancer diagnosis and swift treatment. She's back full time fighting fires on Monday.
“I knew nothing about cancer; cancer’s not in my family and I really didn’t know much about breast cancer at all, even though one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime,” said Dawkins. “It was a surprise, but having said that, I’ve got 20-plus years working in the fire service.”
For years, firefighters have known the greater risk to their health and safety isn’t a burning building, but the smoke, chemicals and gases that emanate from fires and can leach into their skin and lungs, leading to a variety of cancers. In addition to the longstanding association of lung, esophageal and brain cancers with firefighting, the provincial government has added breast, prostate and multiple myeloma cancers to the list of occupational illnesses for firefighters.
“I’ve known a lot of firefighters over my career who’ve had cancer, but breast cancer’s new because there’s not a lot of women in the fire service yet, and there’s not a lot of women that’ve been around for as long as I have,” Dawkins said.
It’s now routine for all firefighters across jurisdictions to thoroughly clean and decontaminate their gear the moment they’re done fighting a fire, before they even head back to the hall.
“It used to be a badge of honour to have your gear dirty and now that’s considered you’re not doing your job and you’re doing a detriment to your own health and wellness,” said Vancouver Fire Rescue assistant chief Sheldon Young. “We’re not going to see the benefits of it right away, but we’re really going to hope to minimize the effects moving forward on our staff. In the last several years, we’ve implemented different procedures to reduce the risk of exposure to our staff.”
Young also applauded Dawkins’ resilience and willingness to speak publicly about a very personal issue.
“She’s really inspirational to all of our staff and she’s got everybody behind her — and by her coming out and being vocal about it, it supports people who maybe aren’t as vocal or are struggling on their own,” he said.
Dawkins is focussed on returning to work at a new fire hall, rather than letting all the attention distract her. She’s excited about resuming her efforts to recruit more women into the fire service through Camp Ignite and other outreach methods, but is using Breast Cancer Awareness Month to reach out to other women, even if they’re not at a high risk for cancer like she is.
“Don’t be afraid to go get a mammogram because the earlier it’s detected, the greater your chances of survival are,” said Dawkins. “I went through chemo during COVID lockdown. I wasn’t able to bring anyone with me to the cancer agency … My coworkers, you know, we’re a family. I’m really looking forward to that part of it: being around people.”
