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Hepatitis C and HIV – Make Sure You Are Protected
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On July 1st of each year most legislation that passed during the previous legislative session becomes law. This year our Hepatitis C Presumption Law for firefighters and EMS workers goes into effect on this date. One of the requirements of coverage for the Hepatitis C Presumption, along with the HIV Presumption is that you must have a negative baseline test at some point in your career to be eligible to claim the coverage if the worst were to happen and you contracted one or both of these diseases. If you have had these tests through your employer or through your personal doctor you should be covered if you ever need this presumption. This presumption simply changes the burden of proof from the employee to the employer that it is considered job related should you contract these diseases on the job and require treatment. You should continue to document known or suspected exposures through your employer as in the past. This new protection is to cover you should you contract these diseases on the job from all of the unknown exposures firefighters and EMS workers respond to regularly. Please pass this along to everyone you work with so they can protect themselves should the worst happen to them.
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