BRAVE-F Returns with Health Screening in Zurich

On Monday, April 27, 2025, the BRAVE-F team kicked off a new year of screenings with a visit to the Zurich Firehall. This event marked both the first screening of the year and the 12th since the program began, as a part of our organizations commitment to screen firehalls throughout Huron County.

Fifteen members of the Zurich fire team joined us for the evening, participating in a series of cardiovascular and cancer risk screening stations operated by Gateway CERH staff, members of our board, and medical professionals who we are incredibly fortunate to have volunteer their time with us.

Gateway CERH would like to extend a sincere thank you to Fire Chief Marty Merner for welcoming our BRAVE-F team, and to the remarkable team of Zurich firefighters for their engaged participation in our event. Volunteer firefighters are essential to the health and well-being of our communities, and we are grateful for all the ways that they support our area.

With this visit, the BRAVE-F project has now screened over 200 firefighters across Huron County at 12 firehalls. We’re looking forward to continuing visits throughout the year and returning to many of these firehalls for a second round of screenings in 2026.

See the following link to learn more about the BRAVE-F Project.

Support

There are many groups supporting these efforts, including the Town of Goderich, the Township of Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh, Libro Credit Union, the Municipality of Bluewater, the Sunset Community Foundation, the Goderich Legion, the Seaforth Legion Branch 156, the University of Waterloo, 100 People Who Care: Huron County, iA Financial, and Bruce Power. Thank you for helping us make these events a possibility.

About Gateway Centre of Excellence in Rural Health  

Founded in 2008 in the community of Seaforth, ON, Gateway CERH is a not-for-profit rural health research organization run by a community-based volunteer board of directors. Gateway CERH's main mission is to better the health and quality of life of rural residents through research, education and communication. Learn more on the Gateway CERH website at: https://www.gatewayruralhealth.ca/ and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube