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May 27 , 2008

Sign the Fight Back Express to make a stop at HRMC

On May 4, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network began rolling across America in the Fight Back Express bus.  Starting in Cleveland, Ohio, the Fight Back Express will travel more than 25,000 miles from coast to coast, visiting 48 states, hundreds of cities and tens of thousands of American Cancer Society volunteers and relayers.

The bus will serve as a mobile action center that will bring the stories of cancer patients, survivors and friends to candidates and elected officials on all levels of government to make cancer a priority in our country. To make progress in the fight against cancer, elected officials must make the issues facing cancer patients a top priority.

By getting the bus on the road, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network will be able to raise the awareness of critical health issues.

The bus will be at Haywood Regional Medical Center from 8 to 9 a.m.  Saturday,  June 14.  It is one of only two stops in Western North Carolina. The night before the bus arrives at Haywood Regional Medical Center, it will stop at a Relay for Life event in Weaverville and will be there from 8:15 to 9 p.m.

The program at Haywood Regional Health & Fitness Center  will  begin at 8:15 a.m. There will be drawings for complementary day passes to the Haywood Regional Health & Fitness Center and other gift items.

Activities will include:
•       Sign an on-line Access to Care petition to urge the presidential candidates to make health care a priority in our country.

•       Send an e-mail message to your member of Congress.

•       Fill out a Picture A Cure form to urge your members of Congress to make access to health care available for every man, woman and child in our country.

•       Become a member of ACS CAN by purchasing bus miles to get the bus to the next stop.  For $10, a person can sponsor one mile, with as many miles purchased as desired. There is no requirement for people who attend to give a donation.

•       Register to vote.

•       Sign the bus. Some sign the bus as a memorial to a friend or family member who has lost their life to cancer. Some sign it in honor of a cancer survivor. Some sign it as a petition to send a strong message to their legislators and to let them know that they care about cancer and they vote.

Among the 2007 North Carolina legislative successes :

• Established a High Risk Health Insurance Pool so uninsured and underinsured North Carolinians who meet certain criteria can purchase health insurance at a reduced rate from what they would be charged due to a pre-existing or chronic condition.

• Secured funding to expand the N.C. Breast and Cervical Cancer Program by $2 million for fiscal years 2007 and 2008, allowing for an additional 8,000 women to be screened annually.

• Required that all children between the ages of 11 and 13, and their parents, receive educational materials on the topics of cervical cancer, HPV and HPV Vaccines.

• Secured funding of $50 million/yearfor the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, making it a publicly funded cancer research center.

• Banned smoking in all state owned and controlled buildings. Mandated that any school system that has not gone 100 percent tobacco-free do so by Aug. 1, 2008.  This will ban the use of tobacco on all K-12 school campuses including administrative buildings. Haywood County public schools and Haywood Community College have both adopted tobacco bans on their campuses and off-campus properties.

• Banned smoking in all long-term care facilities • Implemented a fire safe cigarette law, which requires all cigarettes sold in North Carolina to burn out quickly when left unattended.  This will be implemented by Jan. 1, 2010.

• Increased the tax on smokeless tobacco and cigars by 10 percent.

• Authority was restored for city and county officials to ban smoking in their buildings (anti-pre-emption).  This bill also provides an option to local governments to make local government buildings (city/town and county) and transportation systems smoke-free.

• Smoke Free UNC permits the buildings, grounds and facilities of the institutions of the University of North Carolina, as well as the UNC Health Care System and the medical buildings at East Carolina University, to be designated smoke-free.  It also allows smoking to be banned within 100 feet of UNC System buildings.

The American Cancer Society tracked 36 pieces of cancer related legislation in the N.C. General Assembly this session and was the lead or a lead organization on 21 of the 36 bills introduced.  Of these 36 pieces of legislation, eight bills passed the House and Senate and were ratified by the governor.  ACS was the lead organization for six of these eight and also served as the lead for six bills which were passed and placed as line items in the budget.

The bus last came across the country in 2002. The Fight Back Express will be in North Carolina for only three days. The bus will complete its national tour on Election Day, Nov. 4.

For more information about the bus, visit www.acscan.org/bus.

For more information about the Haywood Regional Medical Center Fight Back Express Bus Stop, contact: Hilda Keener, Advocacy Volunteer Lead for the American Cancer Society, at (828) 400-9367; Patti Bossert, American Cancer Society Grassroots Manager, at (704) 578-2417; or Peggy Manning, HRMC Corporate Communications Specialist at 452-9558 or publicrelations@haymed.org.