The Scoop...February 13, 2012
“We create birthdays because we are saving lives.” Chris Hoeffel and Josie Lirot from the American Cancer Society spoke at Rotary on February 13th and detailed the ACS’s century-long battle against cancer. There are currently eleven million cancer survivors in the United States, a number that has been growing since the American Cancer Society’s founding in 1913. The agency has four main goals: Stay Well; Get Well; Find Cures; and Fight Back. Stay Well includes developing screening guidelines for such things as breast cancer and colon cancer; employer initiatives to help the workforce stay healthy; and colon, breast & lung cancer strategies. Get Well provides information; coordinates survivor/caregiver programs & services; provides lodging to patients who have traveled for treatment; and the offers the Patient Navigation Center which answers questions and provides assistance. Find Cures helps fund research into cancer and lobbies the government for increased research funding. Fight Back works on such issues as FDA regulation of tobacco, tobacco tax, healthcare reform, advocacy and lobbying.
The local office of the American Cancer Society served 411 patients and constituents in 2011. It is currently gearing up for a busy summer of fundraising, including the Relays for Life in Lima, Delphos and Bluffton in June; the ACS Golf Championship at Shawnee Country Club in honor of Rotary’s own Jonalee Schmidt and her husband Bob on June 4th; and Making Strides Against Breast Cancer – a three mile walk scheduled for September 22 at the University of Northwestern Ohio.
In other business, Ralph Ellis charmed all the women in the room by presenting them each with a red rose in honor of Valentine’s Day.
Thanks Ralph!