Gateway Visits our BRAVE Firefighters in North Huron

Screening event at the Wingham Fire Department in North Huron

Last week, the Gateway Centre of Excellence in Rural Health (CERH) hit the road, embarking on multiple trips to the Municipality of North Huron as part of their Benefitting Rural Area Volunteer Emergency Firefighters (BRAVE-F) health screening initiative.

The first stop, the Wingham Fire Station, took place on October 27th, followed by a visit to the Blyth Fire Station on October 30th. Across both evenings, 34 incredible North Huron volunteer firefighters took part in comprehensive wellness screenings focused on health education, prevention, and early detection.

Ava Fitzgerald and Nyden Greenfield

Those of you who have been following along with our blog may have noticed that we have recently been incorporating cancer screening and education into our comprehensive firehall screening program. This expansion is part of our Integrated Rural Screening Initiative, made possible through grant funding from MaRS and the Canadian Cancer Society.

As a part of this integration process, we have also begun conducting research on awareness of cancer screening options and barriers to participation, with the goal of making cancer screening a less intimidating and more accessible topic.

Learn more about the MaRS Innovation Challenge!

Gwen Devereaux provides a blood pressure assessment to a firefighter

We would like to thank the many health professionals who volunteered at both these events, offering up their valuable time to help support our pursuit of supporting the health of our local heroes. Teams at these events included a combination of Registered Nurses (RNs), a Diabetes Educator, a Nurse Practitioner (NP), and a Doctor (MD) who helped deliver education and personalized assessments at both stations. Without them, the program would not be possible.

Gateway CERH also would like to extend a sincere thanks to Fire Chief Chad Kregar and the Fire Department of North Huron for welcoming the BRAVE-F team, and to the firefighters for their enthusiastic participation and commitment to improving first responder health.

The BRAVE-F project has now successfully screened over 185+ firefighters in Huron County at 11 firehalls. Next stop, Lucknow Fire Department on November 10th!

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 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