The Health of our Heroes- Wildland Firefighters and Healthy Outdoor Work with Dr. Alya Khan

Like many in the West and other parts of the world increasingly affected by fire, I think often of the hard work and heroism of our wildland firefighters. “Los bomberos” have been regularly mentioned in our family prayers before meals and bedtimes, and my children have participated enthusiastically in making thank you cards. As a lung doctor, I worry frequently about the health of frontline workers. One person who is an expert in evaluating and protecting high risk occupations is my podcast guest today. Dr. Alya Khan is an occupational medicine physician at the University of California Irvine, and directs the Occupational Medicine Residency program there.  In addition to a Master’s degree in Environmental Toxicology, she holds dual board certifications in internal Medicine and Preventive Medicine.  She works at the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health which provides clinical and preventive services to local and regional employers, conducts worksite surveillance programs, as well as providing toxicology consultations. Earlier this year, she chaired a symposium on wildfires and health risks with a variety of professions, from public health researchers to wildland firefighters and forest management experts.

Listen and learn! 

Ways to Take Action

• Thank your firefighters- and make sure you advocate for them to have lifelong high quality health coverage since they are risking their lives and health to keep us all safe. Episode photo of Steelhead Enterprises Firefighters who fought our fires here in Oregon.
  
• Donate to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation- Charity Navigator Score of 93.91, and participate in the Tribute to Fallen Firefighters on October 4th
  
• Ensure protection for outdoor workers- ensure your state has workplace safety considerations in place for outdoor workers. These can be complex issues, but just because issues are complex, does not mean we should not work on them. One example is here.
  
• Check with your local fire department on how to make your home and community more resilient to wildfire
  
• Contact your legislators to support increased wildland fire prevention - for example with a pro-active forest management approach with year-round staffing. We need to let the science lead to help us understand which areas are at risk and spend the money to pay people to safely address it. This will also bring good, high quality jobs as well.
  

Want to hear more from Dr. Khan? Check out woema.org/podcasts.

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