New campaign aims to reduce the death toll from colon cancer in Washington
SEATTLE, March 17 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 50 Washington community
leaders, elected officials, sports stars and local celebrities have joined
forces with Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to help launch a
multiyear awareness campaign -- "Your colon. Your life. Your call." -- to
increase colon-cancer screening rates and reduce deaths from the disease in
Washington.
The campaign is chaired by Fred Brown, a retired bank executive and
former Seattle Supersonics basketball star. The campaign will rely on
permission-based e-mails to reach 60,000 state residents, as well as online
newsletters, TV public-service announcements and online social-networking
sites to:
-- educate state residents about colon-cancer prevention and early
detection;
-- encourage people over 50 or at high risk to get screened and ask their
friends and family to follow their example;
-- reduce apprehension and embarrassment about colon-cancer screening;
-- inform people about available screening resources; and
-- encourage patient-physician communication to discuss colon-cancer risk
factors, prevention strategies and screening options.
Supporting the campaign is a new Web site,
http://www.endcoloncancernow.org, where people can go to calculate their
risk factors for colon cancer and learn about the latest recommended
screening options and guidelines, among other information.
All visitors to the site are encouraged to add their names to one of
two online declarations -- one for citizens and one for physicians -- which
indicates they have declared their support for colon-cancer screening by
spreading the word with others, with the goal of creating a statewide viral
colon-cancer awareness movement.
The Web site also features testimonials about the importance of
colon-cancer screening from more than 50 community leaders, most of whom
are over 50 -- the age at which most people are encouraged to start
colon-cancer screening. These advocates also support the campaign by
declaring their commitment to spread the word about the importance of
colon-cancer screening; each has agreed to contact at least five friends or
family members, who are then encouraged to do the same.
The group includes Nobel laureate Lee Hartwell, Ph.D., president and
director of the Hutchinson Center; former Washington Gov. Gary Locke;
Seattle Symphony music director Gerard Schwarz; Washington State University
president Elson Floyd; local TV and radio personalities Jean Enersen, Pat
Cashman and Dave Ross; elected officials Phyllis Gutierrez Kenny, Lynn
Kessler and Mary Skinner; and City of Seattle librarian Deborah Jacobs.
Brown, a recently retired banking executive, is a colon-cancer
awareness advocate in large part because many of his friends have battled
the disease.
"Often they just didn't get annual physicals and routine screening
tests," said Brown, who seeks to overcome people's reluctance about
screening tests such as colonoscopy by meeting the subject head on.
"Many people are scared or don't want certain areas examined. I explain
there's no pain, it's a simple procedure, and 15 to 20 minutes later the
whole thing is done," he said. "I tell people it's easy. The first time I
had a colonoscopy, I went to sleep and the next thing I knew, I was joking
with my doctors."
Colon cancer is the third most-commonly diagnosed cancer and the
second-leading cause of cancer death in the United States. An estimated
49,960 Americans, including 940 Washington state residents, will die of the
disease this year, according to the American Cancer Society.
"The true tragedy of this figure is that most of these deaths could be
prevented if people would take the opportunity to get regular colon-cancer
screening," said Scott Ramsey, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Hutchinson
Center's Cancer Prevention Clinic. Ramsey, an internist and health-care
economist, has been an outspoken advocate of mandatory insurance coverage
for such screening, which goes into effect July 1 in Washington. Due to
uneven insurance coverage, currently only 30 percent of Americans take
advantage of colon-cancer screening.
Screening and early detection are crucial because people with colon
cancer may be asymptomatic for many years, and precancerous lesions or
polyps may take 10 years to transform from benign to malignant. If routine
screening via colonoscopy or flexible sigmoidoscopy detects a precancerous
polyp, it can be removed immediately.
At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, our interdisciplinary teams
of world-renowned scientists and humanitarians work together to prevent,
diagnose and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and other diseases. Our researchers,
including three Nobel laureates, bring a relentless pursuit and passion for
health, knowledge and hope to their work and to the world. For more
information, please visit fhcrc.org.
CONTACT
Kristen Woodward
(206) 667-5095
kwoodwar@fhcrc.org
SOURCE Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
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Related links:
http://www.fhcrc.org
http://www.endcoloncancernow.org
CONTACT:
Kristen Woodward of Fred Hutchinson Cancer
Research Center, +1-206-667-5095, kwoodwar@fhcrc.org
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