What a great article in Woman's Day mag. Thank you so much Rosie and Brian for contributing. I wrote to the editor and to Dana thanking them so much for helping to get the word out! God Bless, Carol

Brian, it amazes me how much work it is to "get the word out" I have someone locally that does a wonderful job without knowing that he is and I wish there was a place where I could post my Dentists name for folks that live here in the Fraser Valley. I went looking and asking and questioning and looking for follow up and far too many health professionals didn't help much, just did what they had to and sent myself & others on their way. I dont like to talk about cancer much other than with the forum, but I also realize we have to be proactive in our care and in the preventative measures for others. Educating people with the experiences others have had before them WILL make their paths easier to travel..very few healtth professionals have GOT that. Survivors and caregivers may: but what about people whose lives have not yet been touched by oral cancer? They CAN be more fortunate with early detective measures. I will tell you more about this wonderful Dentist and what he has achieved with our cancer center (which I found near impossile to become registered with via my ENT, H&N, general & oral surgeons, but not him..I am now on lesion detection patrol)if I can get some information out to his office. We are both very active within our communities. How can we help? Maria

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Brian,
I love the Trump-angle! Tom and I were discussing ways to get oral cancer in the news after the Peter Jennings announcement of lung cancer and the first 'criteria' was "Big Name."

WE are eager to help with letter-writing, calling or whatever. I would think Men's Health would be a good magazine, but MAXIM would reach more 'at risk' men, I'd think.

I'm running late today, but will check back here tomorrow. I'll work on some angles tonight.
Nicki

Brian,

Okay, Men's Health, Oprah and The Apprentice. Now, are we going to pick one editor or producer to bombard with e-mails for each venue? I have never tried to pull off any kind of PR campaign like this but I think we should decide what the course of action should be and then take it and get as many OCF members to follow our lead as we can. I've been having some luck with moving with motivating people lately so I feel like I can do it again. Let's make a plan and go for it.

Barb

I am up to my ass in alligators right now, but the first thing will be to write a letter to Mark Burnett the producer of The Apprentice. Someone (or more than one person) in the message boards readership needs to take the first whack at this. I will have an address for him on Monday, via an agency in Hollywood that I have friends in. This address will be better than what is listed for him in VIP directories. We need to pitch the idea, who we are, and what they, the public, and the foundation get out of it. Several people should take a shot at the first draft of the letter, then after massaging a few versions out of it; we will get the membership to contact him directly with it. I was told by my Hollywood friends that The Apprentice has indeed done a charity related challenge a while back and it was for the pediatric AIDS foundation, and they are very heavily tied to Glassier there.... I don't know that we will break through that relationship, but we need to try. The fact that our disease is not well known by the public is a major point in comparison to AIDS. The fact that we are much smaller as an organization, and their shows impact on our disease (via public awareness, literacy, and early detection) as a result would be greater is a factor. The fact that our disease is not waiting for a new wonder drug to change the toll of death, but that that toll can be reduced through public awareness and early detection is a major point

Hi Brian et al,

Yes, I know how long it takes to be "heard" - I started writing about a year ago, then submitted to our National Radio Broadcaster, the ABC (Australia), for "The Science Show". I was recorded reading them not long after, then not much happened again until December, when I finished reading a couple more stories I wrote.

They still have not been aired, should be soon I hope! But I can understand why it takes so long, slotting things in when time is appropriate, relevance to what is happening around that time (being a science program, there are alot more relevant subjects to be aired, like "Science Week", Nobel awards and so on. I gave the producer and the presenter printouts about OCF, plus links of course, and maybe this is another factor that it is taking a while, as they have to do their own research, etc.

I'll have a look for "Woman's Day" over here, not guaranteed that I'll find it.

As usual Brian has done another wonderful thing, thanks heaps

Cheers!

Tizz from Oz

Brian,

I saw the Woman's Day article. Congratulations. I'll take a stab at a letter to Burnett this weekend.

Barb

Brian,

Thanks again for the huge effort you are always putting forth in increasing the awareness of oral cancer. I plan on going out tomorrow and buying a few magazines and dropping them off on my way to the doctor! It should make great reading for the waiting room.

Ed

More efforts have panned out this time in two dental trade magazines that go to dentists. One is a very long two-page article in Dentist's Money Digest, and the other is in dental Products report, both which have circulations to more than 75,000 dentists. OCF was the focus of the first and the issue of legal liability was prominently discussed in the article. Recommendations that doctors get current training in discovery and diagnosis was the conclusion of the article with links directly to OCF. The second was about how OC is becoming an important issue to dentists (crap after pushing them for 5 years we would expect to see the pressures and comments noticed by them) and references OCF as the primary information source as far as web links. Progress is measured in many small increments.

Lastly I will be at the NYU graduation ceremonies at Madison Square Garden on May 12th receiving the Stussman award for outstanding public service from dean Mike Alfano. I will have a few minutes to address the graduates on the possibilities that their future holds, and the accompanying responsibilities that go hand in hand with them. This will be my third graduating class to address, (two others last year in CA), and again a small group will hear our story and hopefully take it to heart in their practices. Another small increment.

When I get a few moments next week I will up date you all on my recent trip to meet with the powers that be in Chicago at the ADA, and what joint ideas we are exploring