Chico council approves city-funded cancer screening for firefighters and police; public-works review ordered

Councilmember Sean O’Brien moved and the Chico City Council approved a measure on June 3 to fund annual multi-cancer screening for sworn firefighters and police officers, with a direction to review extending the program to public-works employees in six months.

The 6-1 vote followed a presentation from Chico Fire Chief Steve Standridge and discussion of the program’s benefits, costs and limits. “Early detection does save lives,” O’Brien said during his motion, adding that the screening should not cost public-safety staff anything.

The council first funded the program for firefighters in 2023 and had seeded it with a capital line item. Chief Standridge told the council the city initially set aside roughly $200,000 to start the program and reported about $43,483 had been spent so far; staff estimated about $186,324 remained in that allocation. Standridge said the vendor reduced its per-person price substantially from an earlier quoted amount above $1,000 to a discounted per-person rate of $649 for eligible participants, and that the program tests for multiple cancer types using blood DNA markers. He said the city had tested 30 firefighters in the first year and 40 the following year and that, under the program’s current parameters, the remaining funds would likely support testing at the current take-up level for another six to seven years.

Councilmember Winslow cast the lone no vote, saying she wanted more analysis before extending the program. Several council members who supported the measure asked for additional data on usage and cost if the program is expanded beyond firefighters to sworn police officers and, later, public-works employees. Councilmember Van Overbeck offered a friendly amendment — accepted by O’Brien — to direct staff to analyze public-works employees’ eligibility and cost and return in six months.

Two members of the public questioned the test’s evidence base during public comment. James Hedchison noted that the vendor’s clinical validation work has focused on older populations and said the company has not published targeted studies of firefighters as a group; Laurie Monroe, a retired nurse practitioner, urged that screenings be coordinated with primary-care providers to ensure follow-up for abnormal results. Chief Standridge and council members said individual results remain private under HIPAA and that the city receives no diagnostic test results from the vendor.

Formal action recorded in the minutes lists the motion as made by Councilmember Sean O’Brien and seconded by Councilmember Dale Van Overbeck. The final tally was 6-1 (Yes: O’Brien, Van Overbeck, Goldstein, Hawley, Bennett, Mayor Reynolds; No: Winslow). The motion included the friendly amendment to return in six months with analysis of including public-works employees.

The council and staff emphasized the program’s limits: it is a screening tool, not a diagnostic substitute for established tests such as colonoscopy, and it does not replace care coordinated through a primary-care clinician. The chief noted there are no publicly released insurance guarantees that private payers will cover the test in the future; staff said they will monitor insurance changes and program uptake when reporting back to council.

What’s next: Staff will supply the requested cost and participation data — including clearer per-person cost breakdowns and whether the current allocation will cover expanded participation — when it returns to council in six months. The council did not change employee medical benefits or labor agreements as part of this action; it approved one-time funding and a program expansion under the existing capital allocation.