DRIVE CANCER OUT
Drive Cancer Out is a not-for-profit organization led by physicians, U of L medical students and lung cancer survivors who are devoted to keeping our youth healthy, well educated and smoke free. With our first hand knowledge of tobacco related diseases, we have developed an innovative and interactive program that youngsters find entertaining and memorable. We use cool sports cars as a prop to garner attention in conjunction with a hands on educational program that emphasizes the medical sequelae of tobacco use.
Youth from ages 9 to 14 are the target audience. Venues include schools, major sporting events and festivals. The program is presented using educational flyers, posters with poignant images of diseased organs and actual lungs riddled with cancer and emphysema. In schools, a ten minute slide presentation is given before students break up into smaller groups for interactive sessions with our medical professionals. We also distribute Tee shirts, wrist bands, bumper stickers and car magnets with the goal of permeating youth society with the smoke free message. The sports cars are then open to the kids. Following their solemn promise to never smoke and a sincere handshake with the presiding physician, the child gets to sit in the car and is photographed. The picture and the educational material are mated to create a single memorable keepsake that kids cherish.
To date we have attended over thirty events and have gained 7,000 promises to never smoke. The program has run at the State Fair, University of Louisville football and women’s basketball games, and Louisville Bats baseball games. We have implemented the program in the Jefferson County schools and are assessing its impact through pre and post testing of the students. We have worked in collaboration with the James Graham Brown Cancer Center and the U of L Athletic Department.
This program will run with the commitment of physicians, students and cancer survivors for the next decade. Our goal is to reduce teen smoking in our community and Kentucky to below the national average by a continued intensive effort, primarily in the schools. Leading by example, we hope other medical centers will also participate. We want kids to know that the way to be strong and free is to be smoke free. There is the subtle message that to not smoke is actually cool, just like the cars. On a national level we realize our country must be more fit and healthy if it is to compete in this new age. We hope to lead our nation into the 21st century to strive for a stronger, healthier America.
For more information or to schedule a informative talk for your organization please contact :
mbousamra@drivecancerout.org or
mfrench@drivecancerout.org |
