Mazurkiewicz named WGCU MAKER
WGCU’s MAKERS: Women Who Make Southwest Florida is a prestigious awards program, diligently celebrating authentic, passionate and inspiring women who will leave special lasting impacts on the people, environment, economy and/or culture of Southwest Florida. The 10-year program ends this year by selecting its final five winners of the award, selected from more than 50 nominees within the Southwest Florida community by a committee of Makers alumni and community leaders. Those last five winners include Cape Coral resident and community activist extraordinaire Heather Mazurkiewicz.
Upon first hearing she was one of the nominees for this prestigious award, Mazurkiewicz said she was very shocked but flattered at the news. “I was quite flattered,” she said. “I’ve seen some of the names of the women who’ve received this award before, so i was very surprised and very flattered to find out that I had won, as well.”
Mazurkiewicz is very well deserving of the MAKERS award, as her passion and dedication shines through in the many projects and organizations in which she is a part. Aside from having positions with the Cape Coral Chamber of Commerce, the CCCIA, the Rotary Club, American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life and CEO of the Building Industry Association, her life did a “complete 180” back in 2013 when she “won” a silent auction to travel with a firefighter for a day after a long-winded bidding war between a fellow bidder.
That chance win instilled a professional passion in Mazurkewiecz that burns to this day – for the safety of our fire-fighting heroes, and to stand up and fight for passing cancer-presumption legislation in the state of Florida. With this passion and dedication, she became a fully certified firefighter and founded The Florida Cancer Presumption Coalition, serving as a volunteer 24-hour-shift fire fighter at least once a week.
“At 45 years old, I was the first female firefighter class president in North Collier,” she explained. That’s when Mazurkewiecz started realizing the hidden dangers our brave men and women battle when fighting the flames. “One in every three firefighters is diagnosed with cancer, and although many other states do, the state of Florida does not have cancer presumption legislation. I started the coalition to try to bring awareness and education that the fires firefighters went into 20 years ago aren’t the same as today. The amount of toxic chemicals in the air from electronics, wiring and new-age construction in structure fires now is incomprehensible, and firefighters are suited up to allow their skin to breathe, so those toxic chemicals are then going on their skin, and if not cleaned off quick enough, into their bloodstream, which can then lead to cancer.”
The MAKER award winner is determined to spread the word through special lectures, presentations and classes, more to the local firefighters than the public, on the importance of immediately cleaning/wiping one’s skin after fighting the flames.
“I’m happy to host classes for other fire departments for measures and steps our firefighters can take to reduce or eliminate their exposure to cancer,” she said. “The gear we wear into a fire is designed so we don’t ‘cook;’ it allows heat to escape. But that also allows carcinogens and poisons to be absorbed through our gear, into our skin, into our bloodstream. For every 5 degrees our skin temp rises, our absorption rate goes up to 400 percent. Cancer in the fire service is at epidemic levels, and it’s the No. 1 killer in firefighters in the state.”
Mazurkewiecz has devised at least 12 simple steps firefighters can take to reduce their chances of “absorbing” toxic chemicals from their profession, two being immediately using baby wipes and/or “shower in an hour” (within an hour of putting out the fire).
It’s her hope that, while the coalition continues lobbying in Washington to pass this law, she and her team can help cut down the cancer rate in the Florida firefighting profession.
Still continuing her volunteer efforts at the Bayshore Firehouse, come Jan. 3, Mazurkiewicz starts a new chapter in her profession.
“I’m going to work for the North Collier Fire District, working in their Life Safety division,” she said. “This position will allow me to continue volunteering at Bayshore while also getting to work with the business community in Collier, helping, assisting and continuing their CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) program, as well as all kinds of educational events for the public. I’m very fortunate that I get to follow my heart and my talent by doing this, and it’s been my quest in life to re-educate how ridiculously smart the guys are that I work with every day. With the amount of science, chemistry, engineering and math that is involved with this profession, it’s a very cool environment to learn and grow – and I have the great fortune of working with – and for – some of the brightest minds in the profession.”
Volunteer firefighters are always welcome. For further information, visit LeeGov.com. For further information on the Florida Cancer Presumption Coalition and how you can help the cause, visit FLcancerPresump.com or find the Group’s page on Facebook. To see the complete list of WGCU MAKER award nominees and past recipients, visit WGCU.org/TV/MAKERs.