2020 Maine Session Summary
Victory in the fight against cancer requires bold new public policies that promote cancer prevention, early detection of cancer, and expand access to quality, affordable health care.
News
110 Cancer Patients and Survivors from Around the State Unite
April 16, 2018
COLUMBUS, OH – April 16, 2018 – State legislators will hear firsthand from cancer patients and survivors tomorrow during Cancer Awareness Day at the Capitol. The day-long gathering organized by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) draws cancer advocates from around the state to urge lawmakers to make fighting cancer a priority.
Nearly 110 ACS CAN volunteers will gather at the Capitol to meet with their representatives. All of them have been touched by cancer and will come together to call on lawmakers to listen to their stories and act on their behalf to pass public health policies that will put an end to cancer as we know it.
An estimated 68,470 people in Ohio will be diagnosed with cancer in 2018 and nearly 25,740 in the state are expected to die from the devastating disease this year. Thirty percent of all cancers diagnoses in Ohio are smoking-related. Therefore, it is imperative that Ohio raise its tax on other tobacco products (OTP) to prevent tobacco use and provide better palliative care, or care that focuses on palliative care - the quality of life - for those who have been diagnosed with cancer.
Cancer advocates will ask lawmakers to approve:
Giving chronically ill patients easier access to palliative care – House Bill 286 will create the Palliative Care and Quality of Life Interdisciplinary Council and establish the Palliative Care Consumer and Professional Information and Education Program. The council’s ultimate goal is to establish a system for identifying patients who could benefit from palliative care and to provide information about appropriate palliative care services.
Increase Ohio’s tax on other tobacco products which has not been raised since it was first implemented 25 years ago – support reducing tobacco use in Ohio by raising the OTP tax to match the cigarette tax, and link a portion of the tobacco tax to sustainable funding for Ohio’s Tobacco Use Cessation and Prevention Program.
Join the Ohio Cancer Caucus- on behalf of all those Ohioans who will hear the words “you have cancer” this year and all those who will ultimately die from the disease. Volunteers will ask their lawmakers to join the Ohio Cancer Caucus. Cancer most be a priority at the statehouse.
What: Cancer Awareness Day at Capitol
When: Tuesday, April 17, 2018
8 a.m.– 10 a.m. networking and volunteer training
10 a.m. – 3 p.m. legislative meetings
Where: Ohio State Capitol
**Photos/Video will be available on our Facebook page: “American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network Ohio - ACS CAN”
About ACS CAN
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.
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