ocal Cancer Advocate in Washington, D.C., Met with South Carolina Lawmakers to Demand Action

Angela Kegler McDowell from Conway, South Carolina was on Capitol Hill recently to meet with South Carolina lawmakers to advocate for health care that is accessible, affordable, available and administratively simple. McDowell was one of 50 American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) volunteers, one from each state, calling for Action: Now Not Later on comprehensive health care reform.

“Health care reform is about saving lives, and there is no time for delay,” said McDowell, ACS CAN volunteer from South Carolina. “Congress must take action NOW, not later, on health care reform. We can not reduce suffering and death from cancer if the country does not improve access to quality, affordable health care.”

New polling data from ACS CAN, the advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, confirms that lack of access to quality, affordable care is a significant barrier in the fight to defeat cancer. The results showed that one in four families affected by cancer says they have had to put off or delay care in the last year because of cost.

People with cancer face enormous challenges finding adequate insurance. Insurers use pre-existing conditions such as a prior cancer diagnosis as a reason to deny or limit coverage. As a result, a person with a history of cancer who is laid off or has to quit work can find it virtually impossible to find coverage on their own.

According to ACS CAN, two-thirds of cancer patients under age 65 who tried to find insurance outside their employer couldn’t find an affordable plan. And for cancer patients, research shows that being uninsured can worsen your chance of survival.

Those who are uninsured are less likely to receive cancer prevention services, more likely to be treated for cancer at late stages of disease, more likely to receive substandard care and services, and more likely to die from their cancer.

“ACS CAN believes that if we can improve the health care system for people with cancer, we will improve it for everyone else as well,” said Dan Smith, president ACS CAN. “By bringing Angela and other cancer advocates from across the country to D.C. we will make it clear to lawmakers that families affected by cancer cannot afford to wait for health care reform—and that the status quo simply isn’t an option.”


While in Washington, D.C., McDowell met with many lawmakers. During the meetings, McDowell called for a bi-partisan and uniquely American solution for fixing the broken health care system that works for families affected by cancer by:

o Refocusing the system to emphasize prevention
o Ending the practice of denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions
o Limiting the cost burden on families by providing care that costs less and covers more
o Ensuring meaningful coverage for all Americans from prevention all the way through quality end of life care

"People shouldn't have to choose between losing their house, their life savings, and everything they own to save their life," said McDowell. “Yes, this is a difficult issue; but, our country is too innovative and too strong to not find a solution. I believe in America's legislative system and, together, we can find an American solution to our problem."

In 2009, more than 1.4 million people in the United States will be diagnosed with cancer and more than 562,000 people will die from the disease. Six in 10 of the lives lost to cancer today could be saved with better access to prevention services like cancer screenings, smoking cessation programs, and public outreach and education to improve diet and increase exercise– that translates into nearly 340,000 people each year.

For more information on ACS CAN’s health care reform campaign, please visit www.acscan.org/healthcare.

ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer with the training and tools they need to make their voices heard. For more information, visit www.acscan.org.

American Cancer Society Launches Major Brand Revitalization Effort to Help Broaden Consumer Understanding and Connections

The American Cancer Society is launching a major brand revitalization effort focused on helping people better connect with the organization and understand all it has to offer to defeat cancer. Although the American Cancer Society is the most highly recognized health charity brand in the world, Society-conducted research has shown that the public has little understanding about all the organization specifically does.

“We’re proud that we have contributed to a 15 percent decrease in the cancer death rate since the 1990’s. In recent years, nearly 100,000 more people are celebrating birthdays annually. Eleven million survivors in the U.S. will have a birthday this year and that’s something to celebrate” said Elizabeth T.H. Fontham, M.P.H, Dr.P.H., national volunteer president, American Cancer Society. “But if we can help consumers understand all of the ways we save lives from cancer, we can do more. If we can help more people take steps to prevent cancer and detect it early, if we can increase the number of patients we serve, if we can accelerate our cancer research efforts and engage more advocates in the fight, we believe we can create a world with countless more birthdays."

“The Official Sponsor Of Birthdays” campaign asks its audience to imagine a world with more birthdays and highlights all of the ways the organization saves lives – by helping people stay well through taking steps to prevent cancer or detect it early; helping people get well by guiding them through every step of the cancer experience; by finding cures through funding and conducting groundbreaking research; and by fighting back by encouraging lawmakers to do their part to defeat cancer and by rallying communities to join the fight.

In the midst of an economic recession, with charities facing declining contributions and increased demand for services, it has never been more critical for the American Cancer Society to connect with supporters so they know how their financial and volunteer contributions are making a difference. With demand for cancer support services running nearly 20 percent above levels of a year ago, making the connection is particularly vital for the Society as it heads into its key fundraising season. More than 5,000 American Cancer Society Relay For Life® events – the organization’s signature fundraising activity – are slated to take place across the country this year, with many of them occurring this spring.
“The American Cancer Society’s community presence is often best felt through Relay For Life, the largest global grassroots movement and cancer fundraiser that involves more than 3.5 million participants celebrating people who have battled cancer, remembering loved ones lost, and fighting back to end a disease that has taken too much,” Fontham added. “The money raised through Relay has enabled the American Cancer Society to play a role in nearly every major cancer breakthrough in recent history. As we celebrate the 25th birthday of Relay For Life this year, it’s critical now more than ever that Relay participants understand the role they play in creating a world with more birthdays.”

The brand revitalization effort includes a major national advertising campaign that launches on April 21 on television programs, including “Good Morning America,” the “Today” show, “20/20,” “60 Minutes,” “The View,” “CSI,” “Amazing Race,” “Dancing with the Stars,” “Extreme Makeover Home Edition,” and on cable channels including USA Network, Discovery Health, Hallmark, TLC, HLN and SoapNet; in print publications including Better Homes & Gardens, O-The Oprah Magazine, Health, Family Circle, Cooking Light, Woman’s Day, Ladies’ Home Journal, Prevention and Essence; and with a large online presence, including ads on WebMD, AOL, Federated Media blogs, epicurious, Yahoo! and Evite.

The American Cancer Society will maintain its historic advertising funding levels of less than two percent of overall revenues for this new effort. The new campaign invites the public to visit morebirthdays.com to join the movement to create a world with more birthdays. Visitors can declare the American Cancer Society the official sponsor of their birthday, spread the word via a Facebook application, visit a birthdays blog and send e-cards to friends and family. The campaign will also feature a significant public relations component.

Cancer Survivors Network Creates Online Connections for Those Dealing with Cancer

Long before Facebook and MySpace became household names, the American Cancer Society was building upon Americans’ growing interest in online social networking by providing the Cancer Survivors Network, a free, worldwide community of cancer survivors, caregivers, family, and friends who offer each other emotional support, encouragement, practical advice, and humor. The site, www.cancer.org/csn, has an active community of tens of thousands of members, but is available to the millions of people facing cancer globally.

Initially launched in 2000, the non-commercial Web site has been re-designed in order to offer new features and functionality. Its most popular feature is its wide variety of active discussion groups and real-time chatting 24 hours a day, seven days a week, which allows cancer patients, survivors, and their supporters a private, secure way to communicate with others who share common experiences. Similar to mainstream social networking sites, users control access to their personal information, allowing them to be as anonymous or as identifiable as they wish.

Other features of the site include personal web space in which members can tell their stories, share photos, blogs, art, poems, resources, audio, and more. The site’s Celebrate Life gallery, features photos and information about Cancer Survivors Network members and the search functions allow users to find others using specific criteria, including cancer type, age, and gender. The Cancer Survivors Network even offers a private and secure internal messaging system so members may communicate with one another without sharing any personal identifiers such as their email address.

“The greatest strength of the Cancer Survivors Network is the people who use it. People at various stages of cancer treatment, their families and friends, really make the site what it is by contributing their own stories of survival and hope,” said Terry Music, interim chief mission officer at the American Cancer Society. “There are 11 million cancer survivors in this country, and one-third of Americans have served as an unpaid caregiver to a relative or friend facing cancer. Our goal is to provide a robust online community that has something to offer each person.”