If you’ve attended any local cancer event in the last twelve years—we’ve probably met.
My passion is connecting our community with their cancer doctors. This led me to serve on The American Cancer Society Wisconsin Leadership Board and to become an Ambassador Constituent Team Lead with The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.
While in DC for Cancer Lobby Day, we asked three important things of our Wisconsin lawmakers. Here’s why it’s important and how it will impact cancer care in our hometown.
- Support increased funding for cancer research & prevention programs.
- The medical science can only advance as fast as people are willing to participate in trials. And Wisconsinites participate in cancer research at a 17-20% rate, consistenly outpacing the national average of only 2-4%. Our citizens know the currently available treatments are only good enough for yesterday—not tomorrow. They stand ready and able to carry the nation’s progress in cancer treatment forward.
- Co-sponsor the DIVERSE Trials Act
- This would increase diversity in clinical trials and make it easier for all people with cancer to participate by reducing financial barriers to enrollment.
- This legislation allows trial sponsors to reimburse patients for non-medical costs associated with their trial participation, including parking, food, or lodging. It provides the necessary technology to facilitate remote participation. It also requires the Department of Health and Human Services to create guidance on the use of decentralized trials to increase diversity.
- Co-sponsor the Medicare Screening Coverage Act
- This would create a pathway to allow Medicare to cover multi-cancer screening tests once they have been approved by the FDA.
- It’s widely accepted that public investment in cancer prevention and screening is good and necessary. But there’s another reason: the worsening shortage of U.S. oncologists. The Journal of Clinical Oncology estimated a shortfall of 3,800 cancer physicians in 2020. And we’re already experiencing the pinch, right here in rural Wisconsin. We must reduce the number of advanced cancer cases, and develop better, less burdensome treatments to relieve the strain on our health system. Because sooner or later cancer comes for all of us, or those we love.
The week ended with a Lights of Hope walk to remind everyone why we continue to come to DC year-after-year. Over 60,000 candlelit bags lined the pond at the Washington Monument and were dedicated to someone impacted by cancer.
For more ways to be involved, check out: ACS-Cancer Action Network
