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FIREFIGHTERS: PRESUME ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! (One Firefighters Story…)

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Polk County (FL) Firefighter Paramedic Christina Pierson was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer on Oct. 3, 2018. Like many in our profession, she never thought she would be denied any financial assistance provided under the law because she was diagnosed too soon.

While Pierson was undergoing chemotherapy, Florida Senate Bill 426 was signed into law, legislation designed to cover Firefighters diagnosed with 21 cancers including lung cancer.
Unfortunately she was diagnosed too early.
The law went into effect July 1, 2019 and provides a one-time payout of $25,000 along with coverage for all out-of-pocket medical expenses for eligible Florida firefighters. When the law went into effect Pierson recalls her colleagues saying, “Your law passed, you will get help.”

Unfortunately, in her case, it never happened. She was too late (for benefits) because she was diagnosed nine months before the bill went into effect.

While Polk County’s Firefighters and leadership backed her fight to get those benefits, the government bureaucrats rejected her claim arguing the law was not in effect when she was diagnosed. She filed for workers’ compensation benefits and was denied twice, the county finding the cancer was not work-related but “personal.”

Medical records show her lungs were clear when she started with the department in 2015 by 2018 X-rays confirmed she had stage 4 lung cancer.

NOW is the time as a Firefighter, career or volunteer to speak with your leadership, association or local-so you clearly understand what you are covered under. 
 
While in Firefighter-Paramedic Pierson’s case TIMING is the claimed issue by bureaucrats-MANY FIREFIGHTERS PRESUME they are covered-and find out what they thought may not be true. 
IN MANY CASES YOU CAN EXPECT to be denied and they (workers comp etc) will presume nothing and point that your illness WAS NOT job related. It is on YOU to prove differently.
PRESUME…
ASSUME…
Nothing.
ADDITIONALLY...we strongly urge you to maintain a baseline of your career with physicals, as well as personal record keeping such as: