UMass Chan partners with Last Call Foundation to advance firefighter health care

While firefighters risk their lives each day on the job responding to emergencies, they also face long-term health risks due to repeated exposure to toxic chemicals and other hazards. To help care providers better recognize, understand and treat the distinct physical and mental health impacts of the profession, UMass Chan Medical School is partnering with the Last Call Foundation in a research and education effort aimed at building stronger connections between the medical and firefighter communities. 

“Not a lot of people understand our world,” said Jason Burns, executive director of the Last Call Foundation and a Fall River firefighter. “We’re trying to connect firefighters with care providers who truly understand the trauma that’s prevalent in our profession.” 

The Last Call Foundation was founded by Kathy Crosby-Bell in honor of her son, fallen firefighter Michael Kennedy, who along with Fire Lieutenant Edward Walsh died battling a nine-alarm fire on March 26, 2014, in Boston’s Back Bay.

Accomplishments of the foundation include supporting a bill passed by the Massachusetts Legislature banning the use of toxic “forever” chemicals called PFAS in the manufacture of firefighters’ protective gear, and advocating for the development of stronger, heat-resistant firehoses in the industry. 

The partnership with UMass Chan advances the foundation’s priority to promote the physical and mental health of firefighters through improved health care. Backed by a grant from the foundation and championed by UMass Chan’s Department of Emergency Medicine, the new education and research program will support a medical student curriculum involving standardized patient experiences with firefighters, research on firefighter health and a lecture series at the Medical School. 

“Firefighters notoriously have higher risks of occupational cancers and higher risk of suicide and mental health disorders,” said Timothy Boardman, MD, assistant professor of emergency medicine. “Many of these firefighters need their primary care physicians to be able to recognize occupational pathologies. I think it makes sense for a medical school focused on primary care prevention to team up with Last Call Foundation, who’s really trying to increase awareness about firefighter health.”

The Department of Emergency Medicine’s Division of EMS and Disaster Medicine focuses entirely on operations and care in the pre-hospital environment, working closely with fire services in central Massachusetts in numerous capacities, including medical direction for more than 25 fire departments. Emergency medicine faculty are trusted members of the first response community, so partnering with the Last Call Foundation is a natural fit. 

“We’re excited about what this partnership could be,” said Burns. “By building knowledge that can be replicated and serve as a model for others, there’s potential for monumental change in the fire service.”

The first lecture, held on March 14, discussed firefighter mental health and featured Michael Hamrock, MD’95, a former firefighter and department physician for the Boston Fire Department, and now a primary care physician and addiction medicine specialist at Boston Medical Center – Brighton; and retired Boston Fire Department Lieutenant William Ostiguy. 

The lecture was well attended by an interdisciplinary group of medical professionals that included medical students, residents, physicians, physician assistants, nurses and nurse practitioners, as well as local firefighters and other first responders, who earned continuing education credits. 

“William Ostiguy and Dr. Hamrock did an outstanding job in both sharing their own personal experiences within the fire service, and also stressing the importance of increased awareness and collaboration within the health care system in regard to firefighter mental and physical health,” said Dr. Boardman.