Handsel Art
11 June 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
contact J.R. Few
or 870-427-1365
Physicians, Laypersons Challenge Lung Cancer
Over 100 physicians, nurses, and advocates engaged Arkansas’ greatest cancer killer at the Current Care and Emerging Technologies, Lung Cancer in the Natural State Conference at the UAMS I. Dodd Wilson building in Little Rock June 11. Sponsored by the Arkansas Cancer Coalition, Stamp Out Smoking, and UAMS, the symposium was designed to be an interdigitation between medical professionals, tobacco prevention advocates, and cancer survivors and caregivers.
Making welcoming remarks were State Representative Fred Allen and Dr. Peter Emanuel with the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Center. Hematologist Dr. Mazen Safar then outlined frustration with the lack of progress in lung cancer morbidity. In the past decades research has shown that lifespan for lung cancer patients is increased as much from quitting smoking as chemotherapy.
Physician and Advocate breakout sessions dealt with topics ranging from the staging of lung cancer and stereotactic radiation to the guilt misplaced on smokers. Dr. Thaddeus Bartter, chair for the conference, noted during the Advocate’s session the enormous cost of unnecessary screening as , “Taking anatomy and trying to turn it into biology” while physicians discussed tailored therapy for patients.
Lung cancer survivor, American Cancer Society volunteer and patient advocate Joanne Blos, encouraged the hope that living, “means being a contributor and having joy.”
Co-chair for the event, J.R Few, opined that this had been a singularly significant opportunity for tobacco free advocates to learn from and join oncologists and surgeons in a front line challenge to cancer.
Pictured at the first annual Lung Cancer in the Natural State conference is surgeon Dr. Matthew Steliga addressing the statewide audience. Recognizing patients as individuals, as persons, Dr. Steliga said, “ A patient is not a carton of milk with an expiration date.”
Presentations will be available with the Arkansas Cancer Coalition at www.arcancercoalition.org.
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The presentation, Lung Cancer, or How Tobacco Changed the World can be seen here: http://www.vimeo.com/12517090
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