Supporting the ACS Initiatve on the Ground

Greetings!

I'm not a delegate but the now former Regional Advisor to New England. I wanted to highlight New England's second Hope Lodge event.

If you're not familiar with the Hope Lodge, it is a program designed to provide housing for patients and their caregivers. There are many around the US. These are very important to the patients. Finding places to stay for treatment can be very expensive. The Hope Lodges also are designed to be comfortable and welcoming. In August, we were able to see the Boston Hope Lodge. They do a good job of providing a home-like atmosphere for their guests.

To further support their community building, they have folks come for various reason. At our first event, we served ice cream that was generously donated by JP Licks. At our second event, we cooked dinner for the folks staying at the Hope Lodge.

Cooking dinner for 50 people was a daunting task. Luckily, several GMS alums and current scholars chose to help me with this. We served mac and cheese, chicken, salad, and cupcakes.

Serving dinner (or ice cream) isn't just about giving out food. We were able to chat with the guests and get to know them. While most of the conversations were around anything from sports to the food, some of the patients talked about how important the Hope Lodge is to them. Some folks were quite far from home. For others, the Hope Lodge meant that they didn't have to drive so far every day to receive treatment.

This was the last event I held as the Regional Advisor to New England before I moved. Even though I had just come back from a work-related trip two days prior to the event, had scheduled my doctoral dissertation defense 1.5 weeks later, and was moving about 1000 miles away within 2 weeks, I can say with certainty that participating in a service activity at the Hope Lodge was so worth my time.

If you have the chance to participate in anything involving the ACS initiative, particularly at the Hope Lodge, I hope you can carve out some time and say yes. We as GMS folks were able to bond and get to develop our GMS community, and we were able to give back a bit. What more can you ask for?

Big thank yous to Phil, Steele, Stephanie, and Marcus for volunteering, and big thank yous to Arturo and Jon for helping with supplies!

Gates Scholars Winsome-Daniela Nisbett and Xavier Williams at the ACS Florida Quality of Life Forum hosted at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, FL! They learned a great deal about palliative care and quality of life and how medical professionals and scientists are working together to make it a new standard in patient-centered care.

GMSAA National Member Xavier Williams at the 2014 GMS East Coast Leadership Conference. Xavier was invited to lead the ACS Luminaria Ceremony and was able to share his personal connection to cancer and his passion to fight the disease as an aspiring physician. It was impactful! 

Some final thoughts - Michael Look

It’s a wrap for the 2014 ACS CAN Leadership Summit and Lobby Day, but the mission continues now at the local level.  Where do I start in a summary?  Well, two observations really stood out: 1) the shear enthusiasm of the ACS CAN volunteers, and 2) how relatively easy it is to access your local legislator to voice your concerns.  I talked about the passion of the volunteers on my day 1 post, and that passion has only gotten stronger across the days’ events.  On Tuesday, I had the privilege of accompanying the Massachusetts team as they visited their Congressional leaders- my group included visits with the offices of Representatives Kennedy, Tierney, and Clark; and Senators Warren and Markey.  I also was lucky enough to fit in a visit with Senator Cantwell of Washington, my home state, who met with the WA ACS CAN group along with one of her staff members.  The staffs of all the legislative offices were incredibly professional and courteous, and took the time to carefully listen to this year’s three ACS CAN legislative asks.  I was very impressed with how approachable they were, despite the authority of their elected office.

It was inspiring to work with the ACS CAN volunteers, and to hear their motivations for coming to support the advocacy goals of the past few days.  It’s exciting to see how far these grass root efforts will go.

During the closing session, Shannon Miller- America’s most decorated Olympic gymnast- shares her personal story with battling cancer.

Presenting an ACS Relay for Life signature poster to Office of Gregory Meeks (Dist. 5-NY) with Ladan Ahmadi, the legislative Assistant/Deputy Press Secretary to Congressman Gregory Meeks!!

Taking the Torch - Reflecting at the Closing Ceremony

All eyes are fixed on Shannon Miller and we are more inspired and empowered than ever to put what we have learned into action. Moments ago, photos from Miller's days in the Olympics flashed across the screen - reminding us to keep going because the work we are doing is important in more ways than most of us could ever imagine. In coming days, delegates from the GMS delegation will continue to post their take aways and reflections from our participation. We are thankful to have been welcomed into the family of amazing citizens who are volunteering with ACS CAN -- and we look forward to joining the fight at the front lines in our communities!

Zephanii and ACS CAN California meeting with Congressman Miller to fight cancer!

Zephanii, Trissa, and Ernesto on Capitol Hill!

There is a sea of blue in DC! ACS CAN is working hard. This is Xavier with ACS CAN FL!

GMSAA In Action!

We are live on the Hill - happy to be here and in action with the ACS - CAN ACT leaders and volunteers! It is amazing to see the flood of blue polos in the halls as everyone dashes in and out of meetings. Spirits are high and meetings have gone smoothly so far! My group from California is in position for our next meeting - with members of Representative Nancy Pelosi's staff!

GMS Delegates meeting with ACS CAN National Members and Ambassadors! Very welcoming reception and we are so happy to have met them!

Advocating for My Future Patients - Xavier J. Williams

As an aspiring physician, I understand that I am called to provide the utmost care to my patients. As I have matured over time, I have learned that I am an individual that functions on providing compassionate care through medicine. My annual medical mission trips to the country of Haiti over the past two years have exposed me to the human element of medicine. The clinics provided me the opportunity to help change lives as I worked tirelessly, numb to the heat, mosquito bites, and fatigue.

I still remember visiting Haiti for the first time and not being able to communicate with my patients fluently, it wrecked me. I recall asking myself, “How can you personally understand what your patient’s needs are without translators? How will you be able to help them fight for the basic resources they need? How will you advocate for them in their communities?” This charged me to learn to speak and write in Haitian Creole. More importantly, it charged me to fight for my patients.

My experiences in Haiti have taught me that my duty to my patients will not be confined to the “four walls” of a clinical setting. Physicians are the paragon of leadership and with this responsibility comes a great duty to not only treat but advocate for our patients. By infusing my passion for advocacy with my fascination of the science and mechanisms of cancer, I believe that I can provide exceptional care to my patients. The new partnership between GMS and ACS will provide me with the knowledge, experience, and confidence I need to become a well-rounded physician. 

I am very excited about the lobby day on Capitol Hill this Tuesday and also the Lights of Hope Ceremony. I look forward to learning a great deal about palliative care and how ACS CAN efforts are helping our nation’s progressive movement to make it a new standard of care. Most importantly, I hope to develop meaningful and lasting relationships with individuals in my state and local community to ensure that my efforts here do not end but rather continue on. 

Fight Against Cancer - Public Awareness and Research as a Synergistic Approach - Shanawaj (Roy) Khair

When my dear friend told me that she had lost her mother to breast cancer, I felt pretty removed from my surroundings at that moment-a cancer prevention lab in Stony Brook Medicine. There I was sitting on a chair, reading a scientific paper at my desk, and hoping to make my contribution to cancer prevention, but I couldn’t be there for my friend to support her and be a resource to her. After reflecting upon it, I realized that if I really wanted to make impact in people’s lives, I need to be more socially aware of the fight against cancer. I realized that cancer prevention needs research just as much as public awareness. If I made myself visible to the people around me, I could have been there for my friend when she needed my emotional support. That’s why I joined the fight against cancer; together with American Cancer Society (ACS) and Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS), we want to make a public stand to fight against cancer through research and public awareness. 

One of the activities I am looking forward to in this event is lobbying day. I have learned a good amount of how the research side of cancer prevention work through my work at cancer prevention lab in Stony Brook Medicine. I am very eager to learn about the decision making processes that law makers uses to fight against cancer. I am very excited to lobby for “Removing Barriers to Colorectal Cancer Screening Act of 2014.” I wish to communicate and translate the findings in lab to the public audience and the lawmakers, as I lobby for this bill because news of progress from the research world will be instrumental to find supporters for this battle against cancer. I will talk more about the bills specifically in my next blog post and as well as what I do in the lab to more contextualize myself in this fight. For now, stay tuned for updates, right here at GMS ACS Advocate with the me and the rest of the team. 

Day 1 - Michael Look

Welcome to DC!  Today is day 1 of the ACS CAN leadership and lobbying day summit, and there is a palpable excitement as volunteers and staff arrive at the Hyatt hotel, which is about a 10 minute walk from the U.S. Capitol building.  Highlights from tonight’s program include general meet-and-greets with program staff, a Q/A session of specifics about this year’s legislative asks, and ACS CAN’s awards banquet celebrating the efforts of its volunteers.

Check out the ACS CAN Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/ACSCAN

What is most impressive is the enthusiasm of the many staff and volunteers- they bring passion and fire to their advocacy, and there is a strong feeling of community.  It’s been fascinating to hear the stories of the people here- what motivated them to come to the national lobby day, and to hear what they have to voice.  One of this year’s legislative asks is to seek continued federal support of scientific research; this research is essential to developing new treatments, diagnostics, and potential cures for cancers and other medical challenges.  As a scientist who has trained in academic research labs, I’ve seen first-hand how important this support is to driving the innovations that will help ease patient suffering and protect the health of the public.  Participating in the summit will allow me to voice the importance of continued federal support of biomedical research, and to reaffirm to Congress that this support enables scientists like myself and throughout America to continue serving the public through our scientific discoveries.

For more details about the importance of continued federal support of biomedical research, see:

http://www.acscan.org/content/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Research-Fact-Sheet.pdf

http://www.acscan.org/content/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/ACS-CAN-Sequestration-Fact-Sheet-Research.pdf

Michael Look - View of the U.S. Capitol building.