If you live in D.C., you might have noticed a new ad today in a Capitol Hill newspaper like National Journal or online on a site such as The Hill's Healthwatch blog. I'm excited to announce that we launched our new advertising campaign today, which asks lawmakers to support legislation introduced last week that would expand access to palliative care. The ad illustrates how palliative care sees the person beyond the cancer treatment. It features a woman in ballet shoes above the word "cancer", which has been changed to read "dancer". She symbolizes how palliative care puts the patient in control by managing pain and other symptoms, coordinating care among doctors and nurses and giving the patient a say in determining the course of treatment and follow-up care. As I mentioned above, we launched the campaign to coincide with two bills that were introduced in Congress last week that would expand access to palliative care for those with chronic disease such as cancer. The ads, which will run in Capitol Hill publications in print and online for the next two weeks, are intended to educate lawmakers and their staff about palliative care and how it can restore patients' quality of life by treating them as well as their disease. With public opinion research revealing that seven in ten Americans do not know what palliative care is, we have a lot of educating to do. But I'm confident that the power of this ad campaign will have a strong impact in Washington, D.C. and that our future efforts can build off of the message of this ad.
We’re proud to join the cancer community this September in recognition of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and will continue to focus our advocacy efforts year-round to improve the diagnosis, treatment and quality of life for childhood cancer patients and survivors.