MES C.A.R.E.S. makes a significant donation to further the cause of International Public Safety Data Institute's efforts to reduce cancer among fire fighters
Chantilly, VA (July 27, 2021) – MES C.A.R.E.S. (Municipal Emergency Services Cancer Awareness, Research, Education/Training and Support), the non-profit arm of Municipal Emergency Service, Inc., has made a significant donation to the International Public Safety Data Institute (IPSDI) in support of IPSDI's efforts to reduce cancer among the nation's fire fighters.
MES C.A.R.E.S. raises and distributes 100% of its funds to organizations that are focused on the issue of cancer in the fire service and reducing the tragic impact that is experienced every year by firefighters and their families. The goal is to raise awareness of the threat of cancer, promote research on cancer in the fire service, educate and train firefighters on the dangers they face, and support firefighters and families that are going through cancer treatment.
"Today's modern-built structural environment uses synthetic building materials and products that produce smoky toxic environments for firefighters," said Chief Don Lombardi from the West Metro Fire District in Colorado and a member of the MES C.A.R.E.S. Board of Directors. "Therefore, firefighters are continuously exposed to various toxins and products of combustion that are known to be carcinogenic. MES C.A.R.E.S. and our supporting partners are passionate about protecting firefighters working in this environment; therefore, we selected IPSDI as the recipient of a $100,000 donation to continue their vital work to educate firefighters and assure data can be collected for use by individual firefighters and large-scale cancer research projects. The NFORS Exposure Tracker developed by IPSDI is designed to provide a private, secure environment for responders to document the exposures they encounter on the job in a Career Diary that stays with them for life. MES C.A.R.E.S encourages every firefighter to use the NFORS Exposure Tracker app, which provides those on the frontlines with the evidence they need to show on-the-job exposure throughout their career and into retirement. NFORS app also provides firefighters the opportunity to contribute their data to national firefighter research, to help all of us better understand how these exposures impact the long-term health and wellness of all firefighters."
"We are so grateful for this generous donation," said Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell, President and CEO of IPSDI. "Our mission aligns so closely with MES C.A.R.E.S., and with this donation we will be able to significantly improve and expand the use of the NFORS Exposure Tracker module among firefighters. It has been downloaded over 20,000 times, but there are so many more fire fighters that we need to reach."
The National Fire Operations Reporting System (NFORS) is a SaaS (software as a service) project that provides fire departments with live, near-real time, analytics and provides firefighters with a free, smartphone-based app that can be used to track exposures throughout their career. "Firefighter exposure information is critical to individual firefighters should they ever need evidence of exposure to file worker's comp claims or to rebut appeals even in states with cancer presumptive laws. Firefighter exposure data is equally important to ongoing research to identify potential sources of carcinogens and can be instrumental in documenting and effectively stopping cancers in the future," said Moore-Merrell.
Developed through funding from the FEMA Fire Prevention and Safety Grant program and philanthropic donations, the NFORS Firefighter Exposure Tracker Mobile App is available free to firefighters throughout North America and can be downloaded from both the Apple Store and Google Play by searching for "NFORS."
The IPSDI mission is to help local fire departments gather, organize, analyze, and translate data to enhance how they evaluate risks, respond to emergencies, and improve firefighter health and safety on a daily basis and throughout their careers. More information can be found at www.i-psdi.org and on Facebook and Twitter @TheIPSDI.
Contact
Melissa Knight, Director of Operations
International Public Safety Data Institute
melissa@i-psdi.org
www.i-psdi.org
Twitter @TheIPSDI
Facebook @TheIPSDI
