Join me, Jennifer Darling, as I sit down with the brave representatives of IAFF Local Number 4 from Des Moines, Iowa—Jason, Aaron, and Joe—to shed light on a topic that hits close to home for every firefighter: the fight against cancer and the battle for comprehensive coverage. Listen in as we explore the critical need to have cancer recognized as a job-related illness, the heartrending personal stories of those affected, and the pressing goal to extend presumptive coverage to all types of cancer for firefighters. Their poignant insights reveal the hard truths about the physical and financial toll this disease takes on those who serve our communities and the current legislative hurdles they face. In this heartfelt conversation, we honor the memories of fallen firefighters Mike Broderick and Brian Stokes, who left an indelible mark on their community through their dedication and mentorship. You'll hear the moving accounts of their lives, the struggle their families endured, and the continued support they offer to the firefighting community. As we reflect on the legacy left behind by these exceptional individuals, we also delve into the powerful grassroots efforts underway, including impactful video campaigns and social media strategies, which aim to unite firefighters and supporters in a shared mission for change. Tune in to understand the complex layers of advocacy and the challenges that come with driving legislative change, as seen through the lens of those on the front lines. Our guests open up about the emotional toll of setbacks and the resilience needed to push forward. The episode concludes with a message of unity and action, underscoring the significance of personal engagement in the fire service and the potential for future progress. Discover how these courageous firefighters leverage their collective voices to keep the momentum going, making strides toward better protection and support for those who risk everything to keep us safe.
Can a firefighter's battle extend beyond flames? In this episode I am joined by the courageous trio from IAFF Local Number 4—Jason, Aaron, and Joe—as they shed light on the daunting intersection between firefighting and cancer. We share harrowing personal accounts and the pressing need for legislative recognition of cancer as a job-related illness for these heroes. With heartfelt tributes to Mike Broderick and Brian Stokes, two fallen firefighters whose lives and legacies anchor our conversation, this dialogue is a testament to the power of advocacy and the urgent call for comprehensive cancer coverage for those on the frontline.
Imagine fighting fires only to face an even more insidious foe; that's the reality for many firefighters confronting cancer. This gathering uncovers the complexities of advocating for cancer to be covered under presumptive legislation, a term that currently applies to only a fraction of cancers in Iowa. We take a closer look at the health risks associated with firefighting, the emotional and financial toll of the disease, and the strategies employed to tackle legislative change. The episode is a patchwork of personal stories, the evolution of healthcare initiatives to better safeguard our firefighters, and the grassroots efforts that fuel the fight for fair coverage.
This narrative culminates in an urgent call to action, capturing the essence of unity and persistence in the face of political hurdles. We share a behind-the-scenes look at the legislative journey, from unanimous approvals to unexpected roadblocks, and the shared resolve of firefighters and their allies to continue the push for change. As we honor those who've sacrificed so much, we invite listeners to lend their voices, engage with the fire service community, and support the mission for better protection and support. This episode is not just a conversation; it's a rallying cry for solidarity and the undying spirit of those who risk it all.
(08:22 - 09:18) Creation of Cancer Definition in Iowa
(11:48 - 13:18) Innovative Fire Station Design Appreciated
(20:00 - 21:33) Firefighter Cancer Coverage Advocacy Plan
(23:45 - 25:21) Aaron and Voter Voice Software Success
(29:24 - 30:18) Firefighters Lobby for Legislative Support
(33:15 - 34:48) Impactful Visual Stories on Facebook
(44:49 - 46:27) Iowa Firefighters' Pension Concerns
(50:15 - 51:34) Unified Effort for Legislative Thank Yous
(53:40 - 55:18) Bipartisanship in Firefighter Advocacy
(01:01:03 - 01:02:25) Union Efforts for Positive Change
00:01 - Speaker 1
Welcome to A Duty to Act with your host.
00:05 - Speaker 2
Jennifer Darling.
00:13 - Speaker 3
Hey everybody, this is Jennifer with A Duty to Act podcast, and I am so excited to be here with three representatives from IAFF Local Number 4 out of Des Moines, Iowa. They are members of the Des Moines Fire Department and they are here to talk about cancer in firefighters. So let me start off with Jason. Jason, can you please introduce yourself to the audience in the context that you're here?
00:37 - Speaker 1
Yeah, absolutely. My name is Jason Mason. I am a firefighter for, like you said, des Moines Fire, local 4. I've been on the job for almost 18 years this year and I'm sure we'll get into it later about my role in the whole cancer presumption thing.
00:55 - Speaker 3
Great. Thank you, and Aaron, if you could go next.
00:58 - Speaker 4
Yep, my name is Aaron Johnson. I'm also a member of Local 4. I've been on the department for three years and serve currently as an executive board member.
01:09 - Speaker 3
Okay, great, and right over to you, joe.
01:12 - Speaker 5
My name's Joe Van Hollen. I'm the president of Local 4. I'm also a captain on the Des Moines Fire Department and have been on the department about 20 years. Okay.
01:21 - Speaker 3
All right, thank you all for being here. We're here because I was doing some rooting around and research on the internet for the podcast expansion on the presumptive cancers that firefighters sustain, so I'm going to say this correct me if I have this wrong there are currently 14 cancers that are considered presumptive for firefighters in Iowa, and that is out of a list of over 200 cancers, and your goal is to get all of those cancers covered. Is that accurate? Yeah, yep.
02:14 - Speaker 4
Okay, all right, yeah, I would say that the caveat to that um is not is not that we get all cancers covered. It's that we just have cancer covered. Right now, it's a stagnant list that the state covers and that the pension system covers, and our goal is that we actually define cancer and get it established in law as such, versus picking and choosing cancer out of a hat law as such, versus picking and choosing cancer out of a hat.
02:46 - Speaker 3
Okay, thanks, aaron. Yeah, tell me why it's important that the cancers are considered presumptive for firefighters. What is the impact?
02:57 - Speaker 5
Well, we have. You know, we've known cancer is an issue in the fire service for a long time, and when we first got our presumptive laws put into place in Iowa it was a pretty big deal. But at the time there was very little research and very little known about what cancers actually affect firefighters and how that all worked. And so, you know, we kind of took the 14 cancers that were most readily recognized, I guess, and put those into the language. And you know, since that time we're starting to figure out that there's a lot more out there.
03:29
There's things being introduced every day that are causing more and more different types of cancers, including the PFAS in our gear, those kinds of things. And so we came to the realization that you know, we had a problem and then multiplied on top of that, the Des Moines Fire Department itself has had a problem. In the last probably five years we've seen an uptick in cancer-related illness amongst our members, and you know like currently we're fighting, 10 of our current active members are fighting some type of cancer and within the last five years we've probably had almost double that affected by cancer in one way or the other. Some of them have retired. But then you know, what really brought this to the forefront was in the last six months. We had a couple members diagnosed with cancers that were not covered and we ultimately lost those guys.
04:25 - Speaker 3
Okay, and the implication of having the cancers covered is, instead of being a civilian, a citizen, a human being who gets cancer, has to take time off of work, has to go through hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of treatments. This allows it to be. It acknowledges that it was likely caused on the job and therefore you're eligible for disability type. Your hospital bills are covered in a different way, your insurance is augmented in a different way, and it's not a use of your sick time. It's a use of your disability time at work. Is that correct?
05:05 - Speaker 5
Correct and a lot of these guys go through enough treatment and it's extremely time consuming that not only do they have to use their sick leave, oftentimes they run out of their sick leave, so the potential is there for them to not get paid at all.
05:22 - Speaker 3
Okay, so the job caused the cancer, the Okay, so the job caused the cancer. The presumption is the job caused the cancer. The job should be responsible for the time that it takes to heal, help, cure, correct. And we have this with the 14 that are covered, the 14 cancers that are currently covered in Iowa. We have it for things in certain and it varies from state to state. So certain states will cover PTSD to a certain extent more than others cancers more.
05:52
And, by the way, I'm in Washington state, I looked it up we have 16 cancers that are covered I haven't had an opportunity to sort of compare and contrast between you guys and also, cancers can be really granular in their names. It can be like one type of stomach cancer but not another type of stomach cancer. So we can't call this a one for one. We we've got you guys beat by two cancers. That's. That's not the way this works. Having cancer covered should simply be enough.
06:25 - Speaker 5
Correct and we had to kind of come up with. What happened in Iowa was there was a definition of cancer already in the public health laws within the state and so we use that and that seemed to fit well. It was already defined. We knew that, if we could grab that and put it into our bills language, that it already had something we could point to in other Iowa law that identified cancer. Ohio is another one that has fairly broad language and it's basically that any cancer is assumed on the job unless they can prove it otherwise. But it's not, as our definition is a really good definition I feel like it's any group of cells that attack the body.
07:08 - Speaker 3
OK, and that's the definition in the language, the legislation that you're working on right now.
07:13 - Speaker 4
Correct? Yeah, so the the definition change that we have. Basically it would strike the 14. It would strike the 14 and then the bill goes Cancer means a group of diseases involving abnormal growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. So rather than a list of, like I said, a static list where you have to get one, you get non-Hodgkin's versus Hodgkin's lymphoma. You're on or off the list. This is just very clear.
07:53 - Speaker 3
Abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body.
07:56 - Speaker 4
Abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body.
07:59 - Speaker 3
Spread to other parts of the body. Okay, I want to make sure I say that nice and clear. Spread to other parts of the body. Okay, I want to make sure I say that nice and clear. We will make sure that that type that is written word for word in our show notes. So that definition kind of gets out there. Did you come up with that language?
08:23 - Speaker 4
yourself? Is this being modeled after another organization or are you working with physicians? So, like Joe said, oh yeah, sorry, Go ahead, it comes out of. It comes out of preexisting public health code in Iowa. So basically, I don't know if it was DHS or whatever body in Iowa had a rule that already spoke to cancer being this definition. And so when we met with legislators, Rick Olson out of Des Moines, who is a friend of Local 4 and we've worked with before in the past on this definition, he said, hey, I think this is a pretty strong argument. Say this already exists under Iowa code. Let's just plug it and play over here, you know, versus totally reinventing the wheel and going, going out and having you know doctors or opinions formed um for, uh, just totally new language.
09:20 - Speaker 3
Okay, you mentioned that there's a group of Des Moines, iowa firefighters 10 firefighters where cancer has hit recently. Is this a cancer cluster unique to your organization? Is there something internally, or is this a coincidence? And I should add, could you also speak to how large your department is? I'd love to give that sort of perspective.
09:50 - Speaker 5
We've got approximately 300, 312, I think, is our authorized strength. We're maybe just a little under that right now and so, yeah, I guess we're not sure. We're trying to do some research and figure it out. What's going on? I'd like to think that this is a, you know, unique cluster, but it seems like every time we turn around we've got somebody else getting diagnosed, and so I I mean I hope that that's not the case, that it's not a epidemic within the department.
10:20 - Speaker 3
Okay, and I saw in some news footage that your department there was the exhaust system removal and a few other things. Has your department itself, outside of your union, taken any initiative in response to this? I will call it a cluster, but I'm not going to call it a cancer cluster, but this cluster, this constellation of people who've currently got cancer.
10:47 - Speaker 5
Yeah, I think we're working hand in hand with our you know the city, with other departments in the area, to better understand what's going on with it. We know that we probably don't have adequate exhaust in our stations, so that's a big part of it. We've actually are working with NIOSH to try to get some air testing done within our stations and to better understand what the best case scenario is. We've also filed for an AFG grant to try to get some new exhaust capture systems within the stations, within the stations, and then, you know, starting from the very ground level, trying to get annual physicals back that are, I guess, what I would call a meaningful physical, something that's not just a cookie cutter, that takes into account for people's health history, family history and just the job that we do, and they're getting the proper testing that we can in the early detection of these cancers as well.
11:48 - Speaker 1
No, I think that this, you know, building station 11, I was stationed there for just under eight months and it's pretty incredible how they have it set up.
11:59
It's winning designs nationwide for its design, it's winning awards nationwide for its design and it's set up so with the firefighters, you know, health in mind, which is really awesome and refreshing, and I mean the plans for that. I'm not sure the timeline, but it was set in place before mike was diagnosed with cancer and some of these others were diagnosed with cancer, so it's been being worked on for a few years, which is really awesome to see, because oftentimes we think, okay, you know administration, you know there's that divide I'm not sure what it's like in your department, but I've heard that from other departments where it's like, oh, us versus them, and this is something that we've really felt like. You know, certain people that really took a vested interest in working on this were just appreciative of and it's a pretty cool design If you're ever out this way there has been articles on it, you know and just how it's separated, the hot, warm and cool zones within the fire station.
13:07 - Speaker 3
Wonderful. You said if I'm ever out that way, I'll come out that way.
13:11 - Speaker 1
Yeah, please do yeah.
13:13 - Speaker 3
Once we hit the podcast we're like and now that's on our place of list to go.
13:17 - Speaker 5
Yeah, love to have you.
13:19 - Speaker 3
Okay, perfect, you mentioned Mike. So how about if we talk right now about two of your members that have passed away from cancer? So, within this constellation of firefighter cancers that you're managing, whatever that circumstance is that's going on? You mentioned Mike that's Mike Broderick, and he passed away from liver cancer, and we didn't mention Brian Stokes, and he passed away from liver cancer, and we didn't mention Brian Stokes and he passed away from pancreatic cancer. I wonder if between you there are some little stories or some little details you could tell us about who Mike and Brian were and what they meant to you in your department.
14:01 - Speaker 1
I could speak a little bit to this, but I think we all have stories. Uh, I could speak a little bit to this, but I think we all have stories. Um, Mike and Brian were two guys that were just giants within the fire service, the community and among their peers and, you know, it's it hit us so hard because, you know, we all know the slugs on the job. Right, If you're listening to this and you're a first responder, you all know those so much for their community. Um, I mean, they were just great dudes and, uh, you know, off the job, I had a lot of stories about Mike just, you know, doing so much and sacrificing so much, uh to help his friends out.
15:04
Uh, Brian was a little bit older than me so I knew him more through friends. I'm very good friends with his best friend. But, yeah, I mean it just has been a really hard year for the Des Moines Fire Department in losing these two guys because, like I said, it's not like losing someone. That's kind of not a big loss. These were like losing someone. That's, you know, kind of uh not a big loss like the. These were like losing 10 guys a piece.
15:30 - Speaker 5
Honestly, wow, I'll speak a little bit to brian. When I came on the job 20 years ago, brian had just made engineer and came to my station as an engineer and we just hit it off right away and we're uh again. Like Jason said, it almost sounds cliche, but he was just one of those great guys, more than willing to help out. The younger guys had a great sense of humor really, really dry sense of humor and would, in one minute, praise you and in the next minute, if he thought you were getting a little big for your britches, might knock you back down a little bit, but a lot of fun to be around. Brian was a good cook, um, and when I made captain, uh, brian was my engineer and it was so exciting because I I, as a, as a new captain I felt like this was the best opportunity I had in the world to be successful, because it means so much to have somebody who's knows the territory, knows the rig, is good with the other people, is a good mentor, and I just was so excited. And about that same time, brian was diagnosed with cancer and I think we got to work maybe three or four shifts together before he had to go off and you know, for his treatment and change work schedules and that kind of thing, and as you go through the fire service with somebody like that, I mean I think everybody knows it's a big family and it becomes extended because you know, I remember when Brian's kids were just little babies and watching them grow up and watching them play sports and watching them come to the fire station with Brian's wife, kelly, and just you build those relationships up and so when something like this happens, you know the first instinct is to how do we take care of them and how do we do this? And then you know, now it's how do we continue that? How do we make sure that Kelly and Madison and Max are well taken care of and that we can do anything we can for them?
17:23
Now that Brian's gone, because Brian was truly that guy that I know that if something happened to me he'd be that guy that was right there and would, would take over that role or do whatever he could to fulfill that role. And and Mike was a very similar type of individual. I mean he was the guy that everybody looked to at the fire station. He was fit, he was in shape, he could run circles and fight fires around anybody in the station at any given time and just led by example and um, mike and I didn't work together directly on the same shift, did some time, trades and stuff, but we were at the same station for multiple years, probably 12 years. We were at the same station together and it was always a joy to come in in the morning and see Mike as he was coming off. He'd have a good story for me about the other guys on the crew, another guy that had a really fairly dry sense of humor, but man, he could tell a story and, you know, get under the right guy's skin when he needed to.
18:21 - Speaker 1
And as a testament to who those two guys were and just the family men they were. After both of them passed, their wives didn't even skip a beat, they didn't even spend a day to grieve. They were grieving. But we were the day of Mike's funeral and maybe I'm getting ahead of myself in the questions and stories here. There was a subcommittee meeting or a committee meeting at the Capitol the afternoon of Mike Broderick's funeral and this was like a pretty big funeral that was well attended by people. There was a Senator there, there was multiple people there.
18:57
Mike's family goes up to the Capitol the day. They're grieving for the loss of their father, their husband, and they're sitting front row with us in the fight, and so is Kelly Stokes, brian's widow. So the type of family that both of them were was just outstanding, and they continue to. We ask them what they need and they equally ask us what do you guys need from us? And it's like I'm continually humbled by that because I don't know that I would be in the same spot if I lost my spouse. I would be pretty down in the dumps, grieving, feeling sorry for myself. And they don't. They just they're like how can we do this? Let's go, let's march forward.
19:40 - Speaker 3
It sounds like you're all unified in this purpose. It sounds like you're all unified in this purpose. Was this?
20:00 - Speaker 1
legislation? Was it something that was underway as a result of either of these two receiving their diagnosis, or was there a catalyst moment where the others could chime in? So, um, another one of my very good friends, um, on the job, had an idea. Together we were just chatting about how we can get more cancers covered and both of us were like I don't know what we can do. Well, I do some amateur video stuff, just recording some dumb silly videos of my family, um, and like wedding videos for my younger cousins that have gotten married. And so we said what if we sat down and recorded these stories? And in my naive mind I'm like, ok, we'll record these stories, we'll share them on Facebook. And everybody will be like, yeah, firefighters need more coverage, and the senators will see it and they'll share it with the senators and they'll be like, yeah, let's cover the firefighters and just stamp it and that's it.
20:52
And I didn't have any idea of the political process and naively I was. So looking back on it now I'm like what an idiot I was. I should have planned this out for like a year, two years, whatever, to get everything in motion. So we started saying we need to record these guys' stories and get them on video for future generations, for if we're ever going to do something with this cancer coverage whatever. So we contact Brian Stokes. He's all in, he wants to do it, and we scheduled an appointment even, and then Brian just went downhill so fast and we missed our opportunity and it was like a huge like light bulb moment for us, like, oh crap, you know, we need to get these guys on camera.
21:33 - Speaker 6
All right, my name is Kelly Stokes. My husband was Brian Stokes. He, from the time he was in kindergarten, all he ever wanted to do was be a firefighter. From the time he was in kindergarten, all he ever wanted to do was be a firefighter. Eventually, after several tries because it is such a hard job to get, everybody wants to be a firefighter he was hired and worked on the Des Moines Fire Department for 27 years.
21:57 - Speaker 1
Never in a million years did I think that we wouldn't have a chance to get Mike. I'm like Mike's my friend. He's Captain America. We're going to have years, you know we'll be totally fine, okay.
22:07 - Speaker 7
Uh, I'm Mike Broderick. I'm a firefighter for the city of Des Moines. Uh, I have a liver cancer, stage four. I'd had some urine coloration that was off and I thought it was maybe a urinary tract infection I had. I went to work, we had a fire, came back to the station and the urine was kind of getting darker, so I started to get pretty concerned. I was going to go to the doctor and then I just chose to go to the ER the next morning. Unfortunately, the diagnosis was, you know, I had liver cancer, so mine's inoperable stage four.
22:43 - Speaker 1
But we recorded all these things, all these videos. I spent time editing them. And then I text a group of people not all union leadership I text some people that I don't necessarily think would agree with me, some people that maybe would say give me some very honest feedback on the videos. And I thought we'll sit down, we'll watch them, see if they're usable for any reason. And I kind of marked out a social media marketing campaign of we're going to, you know, January's firefighter cancer awareness month, so we're going to share this video the first week, this video, the second, this, the third, and then in between we're going to have some smaller videos of this or that and then some other posts with facts so the public understands it.
23:26
Um, and then in my mind, we would just have people copy and paste an email that we put together and, you know, send it off. So, um, we got together, I sent the videos out to everyone, Everyone watched them and I think everyone was like, yeah, we have something, how do we move forward? And then Aaron took the lead on the voter voice software. Aaron, if you want to talk about that, I mean, that was a massive game changer for us.
23:56 - Speaker 4
So it was like Aaron.
23:58 - Speaker 3
I am so sorry I'm going to interrupt you here, because what I'd love for you to do is tell us about your background, because I know that you're about to share some higher level stuff than what we're expecting. So tell us why Jason thought that you were the person to help with this.
24:15 - Speaker 4
Yeah, well, I hope. Jason thought I was the person to help with this because he wanted the difference of opinion, but I showed up and he had some great videos. So I you know my my mind immediately started running. Uh to my past and uh, I went to school uh for law and politics um at Drake university here in Des Moines and uh, after that I worked a couple of years in the state uh Senate, and then also worked, uh worked on campaigns around the state, and so I had a good working knowledge of. Ok, here are the steps we need to go through to get a bill passed, but also here's what you do to motivate elected officials. And so, thankfully, through the IFF, we have a lot of resources um through their strategic campaigns division Um, and we've utilized that here in Des Moines before for city council races Um, and so I reached out and got in touch and I said, hey, we need to. We would like to start uh moving the needle on this by um engaging with the public across the state.
25:27
And the IFF offers a tool. It's the same tool we use. It's called VoterVoice and basically it's an email campaign advocacy software, and what that allows is that the individual can input their email address, their physical address, and then it will automatically kind of geofence them to their respective district, house, district, senate, district, even city council ward, in our case here in Des Moines and then they can send an email with a click of a button to that elected official from their own email. And that might not sound like a lot but it's actually probably, having been in the state Senate, it's something that people check the most. Right, you know, mail doesn't just find its way to the recycling bin or whatever. Those folks see those emails pouring in. Those folks see those emails pouring in and especially when you start to rack up the numbers that we did, it becomes apparent to those officials that, hey, this is something to take a breath on and actually look at and not just either stick it in the drawer somewhere or give it a rubber stamp and send it through.
26:42
So, knowing that the IAFF had access to this voter voice system, I reached out. I said, hey, can we engage with that? There were a few hurdles there and so luckily, we've done a good job as a local in building a significant PAC fund. We've had past officials in our union do a good job of getting our members to realize the importance of donating to that PAC fund, and so we felt like it would be good for just us to go out and purchase the software. We spent about $7,000 to just have it, and so we could run it ourselves and tailor it ourselves to what we needed. And so, basically, jason's afternoon of watching videos sent us down this path of. You know, we need to go from kind of a mom and pop political organization to, hey, how do we really, you know, tighten the screws up and get this thing rolling down the road?
27:46 - Speaker 1
So, yeah, yeah, and I think the combination of using social media to push people towards that voter voice. And I mean, we hammered social media, facebook, for the entire month of January and February, honestly, and I'd reached out to a couple friends that aren't fire department people like high school friends, and I said, hey, will you just look at, you know, the page, the, the firefighters page, and see if we're posting too much, not enough in your opinion, you know, because I don't want to make people annoyed with us, but I want to get this message out and I to know if that's doing it once a day, twice a day, using stories as a tool, what is it? And so I think the combination of social media and that voter voice, like I said, we would go up to the Capitol and people were like holy cow, you're sending us so many emails. Whatever you guys are doing, this is awesome. So it was just the perfect equation. I guess that worked for it, you know, getting it seen in front of the right people.
28:52 - Speaker 4
And getting it targeted right.
28:54
So these elected officials, knowing that this is a voter in my district, right, that matters a lot more than somebody from outside, somebody that they're not beholden to when it comes to getting a vote right, that means they have to listen, or at least they should listen, and so that, in particular, was very impactful in getting people to perk up and pay attention.
29:24
Yeah, when we went down the first week of the session for Iowa Professional Firefighters Day on the Hill and people we launched Monday of that of the first Monday of the session, and that day on the hill was Thursday and we had already sent several hundred emails and people said, you know, they made a point to come down because that's what we asked them to do to discuss. But by, I think, by the time we were done, all said and done the campaign, we sent almost 8,000 emails, uh, and we had a tool in there so that people could personalize them. We sent about 500 personalized messages and so that included like, hey, you know I'm the wife of a Des Moines firefighter, or my cousin was Mike Broderick, or you know whatever that story was to really put on display. Uh, for these elected officials that you know this is a very close to home subject. Uh, all across the state.
30:21 - Speaker 3
Can you clarify the timeline for this for me? So when, when did you start making the videos? And, by the way, I've seen Mike's video and I'm so sorry to hear that you never got Brian on video. Mike's video is incredibly well done and I was actually going to ask if you had hired a, a, um a production company or or had you know, uh, gotten a, a social media strategist or anything involved. So just really nice job on the video, uh, specific, specifically Mike's. But, um, what's the timeline that you launched this? Because you've mentioned January, february launched this Because you've mentioned January, February.
31:02 - Speaker 1
Yeah, we started. We filmed the videos.
31:14 - Speaker 3
I'd have to look back at my calendar, but I would say it was October, november, maybe September, october, november of last year 2023.
31:18 - Speaker 1
And then I'm looking right now on our Facebook page but we started sharing. The problem was we didn't have the voter voice software ready, so we didn't want to start sharing these videos but have no action for the user, so it was kind of waiting to get it approved, waiting to get that. That's a significant investment for a union and so, yeah, and so we wanted to make sure and I think people understood that, like, this is going to benefit us significantly. Um, but you know, we we shared the month by on January 2nd, just letting people know it was firefighter cancer awareness month. Um, the international posted some things, so we shared that.
32:04
And then our first video was January 8th. So we did a little video that kind of just highlighted everybody's story and let people know that this is what we're going to be doing all month. Um, and that was seen 62,000 times. Um, and that was seen 62,000 times. And then we did just different statistics throughout the week leading up to the next video. And then, unfortunately, and it was just crazy how it happened, we lost Mike on January 14th and he had. I asked him if he wanted to see his video and he did, so I sent it to him the week before and I'm really glad he did, or I did Um, so Mike was able to see his video and he just texts me.
32:51 - Speaker 2
The Des Moines Fire Department suffered a loss Monday with the death of Philip Mike Broderick. Broderick struggled with stage four liver cancer. Broderick served in the army for nearly two decades and was a part of Des Moines fire for 16 years. We spoke with them on broad or spoke with Broderick's colleagues, rather this past year.
33:09 - Speaker 3
And Mike is uh, I'm getting goosebumps now talking about it, but I got goosebumps, just let you know.
33:15 - Speaker 1
We had planned to release Mike's video and it's like I couldn't wait. Um, I spent a little too much time refreshing my Facebook feed that day because I was just like I knew it was. The timing was perfect and everything was perfect. And I I called his wife and I asked for her blessing. I said, hey, if it's too soon, like I do not want to release this video if you're not comfortable with it. Two days after and she was like no, mike was very passionate about this, he wanted it, let's do it.
33:48
So you know, we released Mike's video. It got 30,000 views and almost a thousand shares and so we just went from there. So then we were releasing one a week. So we released, I recorded seven. We released six, no, I recorded eight. We released six, um, and so you know, those were just Des Moines fire guys. Uh, I'd like to get out and get the stories of more guys around the state, uh, if it works out. But I think just that visual short story is just so impactful to most because, um, yeah, I mean you, just, it's somebody real and you could see their circles. You know of of people that would share it. You know, maybe, people that didn't know Mike, um, but knew Brian, and they would all share his widow story, um, or people that didn't know her but knew Mike, and they would all share and like his story. So you could kind of see these little trends behind the scenes of Facebook in the data that we were looking at.
34:45 - Speaker 3
So that's really amazing. The so really, the timeline is that you launched this campaign sort of sometime over the summer, is when you were of. 2023, is when you were sort of coming up with this granular idea of we're going to do videos and we're going to get people to know about this.
35:04 - Speaker 1
Yeah, I mean going back to the point of you know, in my naive mind I'm like we're going to make some videos, people are going to be like yeah, yeah, rah, rah behind firefighters, and then we're going to force the hand of the senators to rubber stamp it. And that's what I thought it was. And I mean, I knew how government worked, but for some reason, with this, I'm just I wasn't thinking about it, I wasn't thinking clearly, and so, uh, yeah, the the campaign started and luckily we have a union hall that's got a really cool. Uh, if you've seen the videos, um, it's got a cool ambiance downstairs and so we just use that for all of the videos. And so we just coordinated a time, um, you know, in between people's treatments, shifts, whatever, uh, and it was kind of difficult, cause we use that as an event space, so I would have to call the person that manages it to make sure that it was open.
35:58
I'd have to make sure my schedule was open from the fire station. Their schedule was open from the fire station and no one else was going to be using it, so it was like a four process thing to get it. And then, if someone backs out, you're like, oh, I got to start all the way over again, um, but I mean I think it was so worth it, and especially just to capture these guys' stories for their families you know years to come for younger guys. I think it's really important they understand the impact that these guys have had on the job.
36:27 - Speaker 3
What day was Firefighter Day on the Hill? That's something that's across the country IAFF. People get to go up to the hill in their own state and just be there with legislators who have an ear on that particular day for firefighter concerns.
36:48 - Speaker 4
January 11th.
36:52 - Speaker 2
January 11th Tonight an update to a story we first brought you back in December. For months, the Des Moines Association of Professional Firefighters has been working with state lawmakers to bring forward new legislation that would ensure all cancers are covered under disability coverage. Earlier today, that legislation made it to the debate floor in the Iowa House and several members of the Des Moines Union were in the gallery to show support for the bill. Local 5's Megan McPherson shares why this legislation is so important to so many across the state.
37:21 - Speaker 8
McPherson shares why this legislation is so important to so many across the state.
37:28 - Speaker 3
It's not every day that local firefighters make a trip. I'm blown away. I didn't know how far back it went, where you started on this, and I'm really just blown away by absolutely how much you've accomplished in this time. Not only doing the rah-rah people are going to rally, rah-rah, people are going to tell their leaders but you have been to the Hill. Your bill tell us about the status of your bill. It went to the House and it had unanimous pass, but there's still more to go. So what happened after the day that was shown in the news, where it got unanimous support?
38:03 - Speaker 5
Well, unfortunately we hit a roadblock. The Senate assigned it to a subcommittee and that subcommittee is run by Senator Jason Schultz, who is a rural Iowa senator. He has one municipality that has actually police officers in our pension system because our pension system covers fire and police and unfortunately Iowa is fairly rural, so we run into that. A lot of different places is that they don't even have IFF professional firefighters in their districts and this senator apparently had some issues with it. We had some conversations with him but he let it die in his subcommittee and didn't bring it to a vote to go to committee.
38:54 - Speaker 2
The DeMoyne Firefighters Union is dead at the statehouse after the Senate decided not to move it along. The bill aimed to ensure all cancers are covered under the disability coverage of Iowa firefighters. Local 5's Megan McPherson joins us now to explain how Des Moines firefighters are now reacting.
39:12 - Speaker 8
Stephanie. The potential dangers of developing cancer on the job as a firefighter is something I've been following since the fall. It's those dangers and the bipartisan support this bill gathered that's left the Des Moines Association of Professional Firefighters in shock after learning the bill wasn't prioritized.
39:29 - Speaker 5
So there's still a couple options out there. Right now they don't look very viable for this session, but we're still working. We're still trying to lay the groundwork with the intention that hopefully next year we can I don't want to say start the process over, but very similar We'll put a campaign together and start working on how we can get this through the Senate. We've had several conversations with the members of the House that passed it and just trying to figure out exactly what we need to do to get this thing to be successful next year.
40:13 - Speaker 3
Erin, I'm wondering if you have any thoughts about expectations and, with your experience in politics, what is a reasonable expectation for having something like this happen?
40:26 - Speaker 4
Yeah, well, I would say and I we talked about this from pretty much the outset that nothing goes quickly at the Iowa State Capitol. Quickly at the Iowa State Capitol, you know it's, and in some ways that's a good thing, right. We don't want a legislature that's just cranking out bills left and right that you know aren't well vetted and check out, but in some ways that's a bad thing, right. This is a pretty obvious, simple fix to a critical issue. Um, and we got kind of hung up on a process or procedural thing. Um, I look back, I was looking back in my calendar here. I think we met the second week of December or maybe the first week to review those videos week of December, or maybe the first week to review those videos. Uh, we purchased the advocacy software on the 3rd of January and then we launched our campaign that week later, so like the eighth um. So got that up and running in five days. And then I mean I think we had language, we had that language drafted and and up um by I think the second week of session, so like two weeks, less than two weeks after we started, and then to pass the house, uh, the last day of February. Um, I mean that's pretty rapid. It felt like forever because of all the work we were putting in, but the rate of play actually fairly quick, because I think a lot of the legislators and the people we worked with recognized that the sacrifice that Brian and Mike made was something that should have been covered and really it was a large misstep on the part of our current code that they weren't.
42:33
So to get to the Senate then and basically get pigeonholed into a committee where the Senator told us and basically get pigeonholed into a committee, uh, where the Senator told us I was standing looking at him right in the face, uh, with one of my drill school buddies who, uh, was up today at Mayo clinic getting a brain tumor removed, um, you know, for him to look us in the eye and say, well, I have got an uneasy feeling about this bill.
43:06
I can't quite put my thumb on it. You know that was pretty brutal, especially to just not even let that uneasy feeling turn into okay, well, let's move to the next step of the process, which was a subcommittee hearing. They wouldn't even had to have a vote and because, basically, what a subcommittee is is it's a time for public comment and it's a time for all stakeholders involved to come to the table and talk about the bill, and so basically, he just didn't allow that to happen. That's within his purview as the subcommittee chair and also the committee chair, and so that I mean, that was just a sucker punch, you know, to not even let something like that see the light of day just really brutal, so yeah.
44:23 - Speaker 3
Iowa Senator who he made a comment and the Senator's comment basically is it did fail to move forward in the Senate this week. There were still some questions and they're not sure that it's the best way to support all of Iowa's firefighters. Have there has anybody reached out to say there's a better way, or let's sit around and talk about better ways if this isn't it? Has that happened?
44:44 - Speaker 4
No, because the opportunity at least in my mind for that would have been that subcommittee meeting. Okay, right, I think what is tricky about the language in his statement is the word all of Iowa's firefighters. We all do the same job but we don't all pay into the same pension system. And that pension system is kind of our benefit, right for working for the municipalities, but it's also something we put an incredible amount of money into. You know, several hundred dollars in my paycheck go into that and so and and this.
45:30
We haven't talked about this yet but the entire cost of the pension increase to cover this goes to the members, so it doesn't go to the state, it doesn't go to the cities, it goes on our paycheck to pay for it. So I felt like that was a little bit of a slight. You know it was him muddling the issue because it's a pension issue or the members that pay into that pension, and so you know those are that's not all of Iowa's firefighters, and all firefighters deserve better cancer protection and better cancer prevention and detection and all the things. But this is a specifically it's a disability issue as related to our pension. So that that really kind of unsettled me, I guess.
46:27 - Speaker 3
Yeah, so this issue, your story, struck me when I first read about your story, when I first started seeing your videos. Your story struck me. And now, in talking to you, hearing you talk about how much you were able to get done from basically last summer, from summer of 2023, until February of 2024, I'm really blown away by what you've done. And what you've done isn't just for Des Moines Fire like. This is language that is then copied and pasted by other states, by other IAFF locals, by other organizations that are in advocacy for public safety workers who are exposed to cancers on the job. So I can tell that you've all this is a blow to all of you. I can just, you know, tell, as we're talking about that, but I have to tell you that I'm learning about this now.
47:35
This podcast is one way to get the word out, but I hope you know that this is so much bigger than Des Moines Fire and Brian and Mike and all of your members who are struggling with health issues right now. What you accomplish, what you have accomplished is it's huge for all of us. So if you had a magic wish list and a way to get everybody to rally behind you, what would it be? What would you, what do you need right now? What can we do?
48:13 - Speaker 5
Well, I think we've just got to. Well, we've just we've got to continue to spread the word and continue to keep working. I think that we've all you know it's it's. There's never been a hey, I quit or hey, this is BS, or you know, hey, I'm not not cut out for this. It's been how can I help?
48:32
And, as we've had successes and and even some of the failures, it's been amazing that you know not only folks like you, but even our own members that are like all right, what's next, what do we do? And there's been no sense of give up or quit, or you know and that's the amazing thing and Jason touched on it earlier about, you know, kelly and Emily have been like where are we at? What's going on? You know like, hey, they're not giving up. And so for me personally and I think Aaron and Jason have been impacted by it too is like there's no way I'm giving up, there's no way that I'm going to be done with this, that you know that we've just scratched the surface with this, that you know that we've just scratched the surface, and so, um, I I'm just, every day I'm amazed. We keep coming up with stuff, we, we have some amazing folks that uh are on the Des Moines fire department, that are and are on across the state and stuff.
49:23
But, as you can see, what Jason and Aaron have been able to put together, and some of the other folks behind the scenes at local four, uh, we're, we're just scratching the surface of where we're at with this.
49:36 - Speaker 1
Yeah, and I think it was. We put in so much work in such a short amount of time. When you look back at it, you're right, it is a very short amount of time to move. We all know that the red tape and the bureaucracy does not move at a quick pace, and so we have done a lot of things. We all know that the red tape and the bureaucracy does not move at a quick pace, and so we have done a lot of things.
49:54
So to find out that it was squashed, I think I went through all the stages of grieving in one day and my wife was like what is wrong with you? Because you're angry and then you're sad, and then you're back to venting about something random again and I'm like, yeah, it it's kind of hard to stomach that this happened. But uh, joe's absolutely right. Like there's so many people that have stepped up and just this week we said, okay, how do we make this? So? It's not like we don't want to get caught in a political thing where one party tries to use it against the other because it got hung up, and then we're like a pawn in their game from all the work we've done, because we've done a tremendous amount to try to stay neutral and just make this a, you know, like both sides of the aisle. And so we said, well, let's do handwritten thank yous to all 150 legislators at the Capitol, both the House and the Senate. And yesterday I got these thank you cards printed.
50:52
I go to one station and they're like, you know, one guy had volunteered to do it, so I go to drop him off the cards and the whole crew, the entire crew goes, we'll do it. And I'm like, well, you guys don't need to do the whole thing. And they're like, well, we'll take, like you know, a huge, we'll take these two pages, like okay. So then I go to another station to drop off to two guys, thinking that each guy was going to do like 10 cards, and that station was like, well, we'll take another 50. And so it's like, within the you know, everyone has just stepped up and we have this unification over this, and I think that was that's one of the big things for me. Take away is like we can't lay on the couch.
51:34
And this is, you know, I spoke at Mike's funeral, um, and said that, you know, after Mike passed, I kind of curled up on the couch for a couple of days and just wanted to do nothing, wanted to feel sorry for myself, wanted to sulk, but over and over again, I could just hear Mike's voice and he was very much a hard charger, like, what are you doing? Like, and I could just hear him saying that like, this is not, like, the fight is far from over, let's go pick yourself up, like, and so that has been a constant theme. I think that's just an unspoken amongst our members, like Joe said, and I think everyone is really excited to keep moving this forward. I mean, there's some frustration and some hurt that it stalled out, but I think overall, people are ready to fight, ready to keep going and see what happens next year.
52:25 - Speaker 4
Yeah, I mean, my wishlist would be a new committee chair in the Senate State Government Committee. Bushlist would be a new committee chair in the Senate State Government Committee, but that would be probably not doable right now. I think what I want to go back to actually is you know, you pointed out that this helps people across the nation. You know we do. We ride on the backs of those before us and that was very much true in our case. We wouldn't be where we are right now without the help of people past members of our union, but past members of the state and past members of the international. So I think my wishlist is that other people get inspired to do the same thing and bring the same fight to their state house and, you know, hopefully use this as somewhat of a roadmap to get there, because you know, it's not a local four issue, it's not a state issue, it's a firefighter issue and so hopefully that that we can be a small part of the change to come, you know, with respect to that, yeah, and I think it's.
53:40 - Speaker 5
you know, another thing along that same lines that Aaron's talking about is this really wasn't a Democrat or Republican issue either, and I think that's really important in today's day and age. This was something that we really found that on a few different levels. Number one it gave our members something to unite around. That wasn't the mundane, it was a very clear path and something that we all knew was important. But I think it also reminds us that you know, no matter what party we affiliate with or whatever that is, there are some things that are just simply bigger than that and bigger than us, and so my wish is that people realize that and we can continue down this path of working for things that are just simply important to firefighters, and that you know that's kind of our role and that we get back to those roots of you know. This is something that is so critically important to firefighters and their families that it really shouldn't have any other impact anywhere else.
54:41 - Speaker 3
All really really good, good thoughts to keep in mind. I think it's helpful to know that you don't feel that this is a problem across party lines. For example, we're headed into an election and this does this transcends all of those things being on the podcast will do. Will that? This? Your struggle, your, your accomplishments here, as well as your struggle, will appear on people's uh devices. We've got some international listenership. We've got a lot of us listenership, but specifically, it's going to be well outside of Des Moines. So how about if just one of you I'll let you decide who, but just one of you talk about the Facebook page or any other social media that you're using to connect on this, because I want our listeners to know how to show their support to you and maybe bring you some ideas.
55:49 - Speaker 1
So, whichever one, to you and maybe bring you some ideas. So, whichever one, there's a handful of people that do the social media. I think that the last two months I've primarily been the person, just because I've uploaded the things and I've had things scheduled out for the weeks in advance, trying to kind of plot something, so it just didn't look like I woke up and just threw something up the morning of, so just kind of leading people a little bit how we want them to be led. Um, you know, and now that all that stuff is over, we're trying to mix in some fun stuff. You know, yesterday was national Mr Rogers day, so it's like throw up a picture of him in a fire helmet and just stuff like that. People love it. My mom loves that kind of stuff.
56:33
So, um, yeah, I mean Aaron and I have joked about, uh, maybe starting a consulting company and going and talking to other fire departments about how to do this campaign.
56:45
But social media was such a huge tool for us and using, you know, facebook, sharing it on Instagram and then putting the videos on YouTube too for people that don't have, uh, social media, but directing them through email towards that and saying, hey, you can still do this, you can still share these videos, um, through text or or email or however you want to do that, and just making that video available in as many places as possible.
57:14
And I've listened to podcasts about the fire service getting into TikTok and I haven't dipped my toe into that water yet, but we just have kind of the very basics.
57:24
And if anyone listening to this does have any ideas, I check the messages on Facebook every day. So if anyone know if anyone's willing to or wanting to reach out with any information, or maybe you see something on there that you're like, hey, you could actually tweak this or do this better, or I have experience with this we are more than happy to you know, have that conversation and reach back out. There's been so many messages in the last couple of months where I've actually shot people my number and just said, hey, shoot me a text message or whatever, and you know, I think, even how we connected with you guys just reaching out. So, yeah, I mean we're always checking that, active on that and trying to get new people into the fray, to do that Facebook page and having a strategy with it and not just showing up and saying, oh, we should probably post something today, for this day, like actually guiding it and using it as a tool, going forward for, you know, our contract with the city and other things like that.
58:28 - Speaker 3
Hey Aaron, I wanted to ask you if you had any specific instructions for anybody in the fire service or any public safety organization people who are doing what you guys are doing. How can they get involved in politics or make a difference?
58:45 - Speaker 4
Yeah. So the first thing, if you're part of the IFF, uh, the IFF has some remarkable uh resources uh available to you, so just you know, reach out through your local um to your DVP or divisional vice president and uh, get in touch.
59:04
The strategic campaigns division has been super helpful to us, uh, to get the ball rolling in a lot of different ways and then continue to support us, whether it's city council elections or at the state level, and really help us, has helped us in this process and given us a lot of different tools actually to impact change. If you're not as fortunate as having the IFF having your back, then you know, just show, just show up. Uh, you learn a lot by just showing up, being present, um, putting a, putting a face behind these issues. Right, it's not, um, I think it can be so common for these elected officials to see well, I'm changing this language here and that's great or whatever. But if you see that that human's face across from you and how, and you start to really understand how it's going to impact them and the people they work with, uh, that can be a huge catalyst for those individuals, um in in an emotional way, but in just in so many different ways. So, show, show up and, yeah, unite, fight and organize, as Frank Lima would put it.
01:00:16 - Speaker 3
So I'd love to get this opportunity for any of you to say anything in closing.
01:00:20 - Speaker 1
Personally, I just want to thank you so much for reaching out. I mean, you are in Washington, we are in Iowa. Most people can't even probably find Iowa on a map if it wasn't identified, if you're from the East or West Coast. So thank you so much for reaching out and just identifying our efforts and having us as a guest on your podcast. We're super excited to hear it when it comes out and hopefully, maybe in a year, touch back in with you and let you know that we have passed a bill and we're excited. We'll pop the champagne then, yeah for sure. I think you know that we have passed a bill and we're excited.
01:00:53 - Speaker 5
We'll pop the champagne then, yeah for sure. I think we very much appreciate the reach that you're able to give us on this and for reaching out to have us on. I guess one of the thoughts I have is that I feel very, very blessed to have guys like Jason and Aaron that have stepped up to become a part of this, the union, but also this, our efforts to make a positive change. But I also want to say that if you're out there in the fire service, everybody has these people. I mean they're out there, utilize them, grab hold of them, listen to what they have to say and we'll make some big changes.
01:01:30
I sit on the IFFS Occupational Safety and Health Standing Committee and this is all so important and we're trying to make some really great strides, whether it be the gear or getting folks on the National Cancer Registry and just participating in research. So if something like that comes up as well, that's super important. There's a lot of research trials out there and for our females in the fire service, we need you guys to step up and do that, because we truly fully don't understand what firefighting is doing to the female body. So, uh, step up, help out where you can, and we appreciate it. Oh man, that's hard to follow.
01:02:06 - Speaker 4
Uh, I would. I would echo both Jason and Joe. I mean, this has been a really incredible experience, just from the aspect of how closely we've worked together on a lot of things, but also the engagement from our brothers and sisters in our union and across the state. You made the joke about starting a consulting agency. I don't know if I want to go that far into it, but I would definitely love to take five minutes of my day at any time to talk to somebody on the phone you know any brother or sister in the fire service or an EMS or PD, you know just to get them active at a city level, a state level and a federal level. At a city level, a state level and a federal level, because we're stronger together and if we don't work to change the policies at hand then unfortunately we won't reap the benefits that we so badly deserve and need sometimes.
01:03:06 - Speaker 1
Yeah, and I think, just to add to that, aaron, you don't have to mirror what we did, you know, with video. Like if someone out there has a skill with podcasting, or someone has a skill with whatever recording a rap, diss track to their senators, like whatever it is like, use that skill and cultivate your people in your union to be like what skills do we have? Let's use them. And maybe have some former salesmen Like they'd be great to go up to the Capitol and talk to those people, whatever the case may be.
01:03:39 - Speaker 3
So yeah, I love that. Yeah, photography anybody who's good at taking pictures. I can imagine that it's difficult to keep the Instagram, facebook kind of going to you want like what's new or take pictures, share them. Everybody's got their phones out. Take safe pictures, right? No patience, no car license plates or anything like that. But you know, when you guys are working, when you when, when we're at work, when we're at play, keep the story personal and it will keep Mike and Brian's stories personal and it'll keep them present. And then, yeah, it may be some time before you get to revisit this, but there's no reason to put it down. Keep it in everybody's mind and you'll be in. You accomplished so much. I'm just blown away by how much you accomplished. I was expecting you to say in 2021. I'm blown away by how much you guys accomplished. So, yeah, set up a good platform for the next go round. That's really amazing.
01:04:44 - Speaker 1
Awesome. Thank you so much, jennifer, we really appreciate it. Absolutely.