Ed Smith interviewed Christina Thompson, the Executive Director and Meredith Utman, Director of Special Events at Breast Cancer Coalition.
-Christina talked about how she is continuing to learn in her new role.
-She talked about the importance of partnerships with local organizations, businesses and community members.
-She talked about some of the programs they offer like their Healing Arts and how it helps cancer patients.
-She talked about the gynecology services they offer as well.
-They both talked about the success of offering programs in person and virtually and how that has allowed them to help cancer patients that are medically fragile or might live far away now that they service a 27 county region.
-Christina gave an update on some advocacy work they are involved with, including working with Clean and Healthy NY. They are pushing for the Beauty Justice Bill to be passed in New York State. This legislation would ban cosmetic and beauty manufacturers from selling a list of products that have been identified to increase the likelihood of cancer. In particular; beast, ovarian, thyroid and other cancers.
-They are also advocating for the Metastatic Breast Cancer Access to Care Act. This would allow people under 62 years old access to Social Security benefits if they are diagnosed with Metastatic cancer.
-Meredith talked about some of their upcoming fundraising events: the Tee’d Off at Breast Cancer Golf Tournament and the Actober event.
-She talked about how all the money raised stays local and helps them provide services to cancer survivors at no cost.
-Meredith explained about the resources they have on their website to help people in the community that want to a fundraising event on their own to support the Breast Cancer Coalition.
-She also talked about some volunteer opportunities with the organization.