C5 "Excellence in Leadership" Awarded to American Cancer Society

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 7, 2013

Statement from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network on today’s Citywide Colon Cancer Control Coalition (C5) “Excellence in Leadership Award," presented to the American Cancer Society:

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) congratulates the American Cancer Society on receiving today’s “Excellence in Leadership Award” from the New York Citywide Colon Cancer Control Coalition (C5).

For 10 years, the Society has worked hand in hand with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation to provide lifesaving colonoscopies to uninsured New Yorkers. These efforts – generously funded through a New York City Council grant – have led to a successful elimination of all racial and ethnic disparities in colon cancer screening in New York City and have supported a 64-percent increase in the city’s overall cancer screening rate from 2003 to 2011. These are truly amazing accomplishments that have undoubtedly saved lives.

However, this is no time to rest. With the necessary resources and funding in place, the Society’s leadership in the area of colon cancer prevention must and will continue. There are still an estimated 116,000 uninsured New Yorkers over the age of 50 have never received a colonoscopy, and 1.16 million city residents are without health insurance. We look forward to the Society’s continued efforts in this field, and congratulate them once again on their amazing successes over the past decade.

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About the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network

ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer with the training and tools they need to make their voices heard. For more information, visit www.fightcancer.org..