Show 1 l' l a I i i 1 FROM FROM t i I II II ONE ONEt I il ilDy J I ICE L L is f By Dy Marie L. L Godfrey Uintah Unit President A American Cancer Society 1 Reliability Ill I'll a About two years ago in a program on I 1 warned listeners to be cautious about cancer information I Isaid Isaid Isaid said that people should consider the quality of the source before accepting the facts presented Before this column continues I think you should know more about American Cancer Society volunteers and me in particular par par- Ordinary People There are over 2 2 million volunteers for the American Cancer Society Many are medical personnel simply because these people are generally in the business of helping others But ordinary ordinary ordinary or or- people are also volunteers When they begin working with ACS most volunteers know no more about cancer than the average person Often they have been closely to touched hed by cancer and may have quite definite opinions about the disease and its ef ef- ef Their information and opinions are not always correct Training Through training sessions other meetings and reams of free literature volunteers can quickly learn a great deal about cancer They often learn as they work People in public information can obtain press guides and sample press releases Some rules such as not releasing an article about a cured without medical verification and a personal written release are suggested New regulations require that persons reporting educational programs must be trained Society volunteers Teachers and others may mayuse mayuse mayuse use ACS materials but the programs cannot be considered sponsored by the Society unless a volunteer trained in public education is is in charge Special training is given to Crusade volunteers who go to door-to-door in April passing out educational leaflets and receiving donations False Information information information in In- formation given out in such personal contacts could be especially dangerous Honest Source Although the American Cancer Society has played an important role in cancer control it is certainly not the only source of good information on cancer The Society does feel however that it must remain a source for honest objective and authoritative Information information in In- formation about cancer References Most of th the information f for this this column has come directly from Cancer Society literature Because I intend to branch out a bit in the coming weeks I felt you deserved some words about my background Because my degree is not in medicine I have not signed my articles as Dr I do however have a Ph PhD Ph.D. D. D in biology from the Johns Hopkins My work was in bacterial and viral genetics I Idid Idid Idid did post-doctoral post at Princeton University and at Vanderbilt University where I later taught labs in micro-biology micro molecular biology and genetics I have worked with the So Society in education for two years have attended all annual training sessions and keep an extensive collection of Society publications Feedback Necessary Since my original purpose in this column was to translate t scientific ic Information In- In information in n formation on cancer into material readily understood by the public I hope to start using professional journals as the sources for my columns I hope you as readers will give me the feedback necessary to make the column really helpful to you you |