VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Following the death of a Virginia Beach firefighter last month, city leaders are moving forward with improving health screenings for city firefighters.
"What if we could have prevented us being at that event," Virginia Beach Fire Chief Ken Pravetz, said. " I'm here to tell you today that we have the power and opportunity to make some positive change for our firefighters."
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A month after the passing of master firefighter Matthew Gallina, Chief Ken Pravetz laid out to the city council the physical risks firefighters take when they are helping the community.
One of those risks includes cardiovascular illnesses.
He said the average age for a firefighter to have a heart attack is 49 and for the general public is 66.
"VBFD experienced two sudden cardiac deaths recently in 2020 and 2021," Chief Pravetz said. "These employees were 54 and 63 -years old."
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Chief Pravetz also mentioned how Norfolk just recently lost a firefighter to cardiac arrest who was only 38 years old.
He believes more ultrasound testing and stress tests can help understand how the heart deals with the stress of the job.
Chief Pravetz would like to see the department go from 23 to 47 health assessments including cancer blood tests.
He said there are currently 11 open worker compensation claims for VBFD and that the existing testing did not find any of those cancer cases.
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"The ultrasound set up by the union and the Galleri test that the fire department did with risk management last year identified 4 cancers," Chief Pravetz said. "Three of those employees are back to work."
The one employee of the four who is not currently working is Gallina who died from occupational cancer.
His wife Michelle was at Tuesday's city council meeting to support the change.
"If we invest early we are going to make a difference and I truly believe this is one of the most impactful things that will come from my career as a firefighter," Pravetz said.
City leaders showed support for increasing those screenings.
City manager Patrick Duhaney will bring forward a resolution to use the city's risk management budget to cover the initial costs for the additional screenings.
