Since we are starting state chapters the geographic data would be very helpful. Is the data from SEER broken down by region,state, treatment location, patient residence?? It would be interesting to compare our informal forum data with the hard data from SEER.
Is it possible to canvass all past participants on the forums via email? We could get the geographic data and inform them of the formation of state chapters and request participation.

On numbers and the need for education, prevention and adequate insurance:

The nurse for the ENT Oncologist I go to at Tulane University Hospital worked on the ENT unit at Charity Hospital before Hurricane Katrina destroyed it. She told me that patients came in "smelling of death." Although uninsured and indigent patients are treated at the local facilities on an emergency basis, there are not enough ENT beds for patients without insurance and unable to pay. She has had trouble getting these patients into the public hospital in Baton Rouge an hour away from here and sometimes cannot even have her calls there returned.

Much of the health care of even the middleclass here as elsewhere is on an emergency basis because many families cannot afford health insurance and many employers offer only minimum plans which do not cover catastrophic illness such as cancer.
This is not only a problem for the financially strapped. My husband went without insurance for 2 years from age 60 to 62 until he was eligilbe for retirement because our small business insurance covering only the two of us was about $1250 a month. He could not find a more reasonable rate because he is diabetic. We took a gamble reasoning that I was healthy and if anything happened to either of us we could pay out of pocket and make payment arraingements if neccessary.

The need for awareness, screening and suppoprts extends across all of these populations.

Malka