Ok, everyone . . . .our own David Hastings, davidcpa, is hosting the very first oral cancer screening in his hometown of Gulfport, Florida!! Anyone in the area, come and support him and OCF!! Saturday, May 8th 10-2pm, check our current events site on the website.

Thank you David!!!!

David is one amazing guy to have put this all together in such a short time. I hope there are some people from OCF that live close enough to help support him in this great event.

I agree Jerry!! Hopefully David can inspire others to do the same in their hometown. Imagine if all the OCF members planned a screening in their hometown!! That would be amazing!

It is a relatively easy event to plan, so if anyone is interested in doing something like this, drop me an email.

Hey, any of you Florida posters out there....check your calendars and check out Map Quest. Gulfport may not be that far and all volunteers get a free lunch at the world famous Habana Cafe owned by the world famous chef Jo Gonzalez.

BTW Habana Cafe has recently received 2 awards, Southern Living magazine in their Nov issue picked Habana Cafe as the Best Casual Dining Restaurant in the entire State of Florida and one of the top 18 in the Southeastern U.S. and Internationally known Cordon d' Or - will award Habana Cafe it's Gold Ribbon Academy of the Culinary Arts award for Florida's Best Casual Dining Restaurant at it's annual celebration award's gala April 30th at the Don Cesar.

Hey, everyone from the Northeast--let's rent a bus and get a free lunch at Habana Cafe!!!!!

You know, if I hadn't eaten there myself, I would have thought that Councilman Hastings (davidcpa) pulled some political strings to influence getting those awards.

However, I have to say that they are well deserved. 5 Stars in my book. And how many restaurants have you been to, where the owners sit and chat with you while you eat?

My dental hygienist just forwarded me an e mail that she got from the Pinellas County Dental Hygienist Association (that's the county Gulfport is located in) telling it's members about my screening. Don't know where they picked it up but it's nice to see the word is spreading in a positive way.

David,

Have you gotten a local radio station to set up at your event? They bring in lots of their listeners. Most times they broadcast from the event, maybe do some interviews, too.

Anita

Hi David,

We are actually organizing a walk with the Pinellas County Dental Hygiene Association in November. Their walk is November 6 at Fort DeSoto Beach, Florida. We have someone working for OCF now who contacts all the hygiene associations in her area to let them know about OCF and what we do and try to work with the diff associations. I am sure they heard about your screening from her as well. If we all work together, word does spread around!! Maybe your area can support their walk in November. Their info should be on the site soon in more detail.

Take care

Susan

Wow to both Anita and Susan. Thanks for the info.

Anita, I'll look into that possibility but how do I choose a station?

Susan, have someone contact me and I'll see where it takes us.

Good question. Radio and tv stations are required to do Public Service Announcements (PSAs) free of charge. You might contact as many as you can with info about the event in the form of a press release. What is your demographic in Gulfport and the surrounding area? If you want to appeal to a certain age group, then choose a station that plays to that audience. If you want to make some "noise" with a lot of high energy, then consider a rock station. It's tough because you don't want to turn anyone off either. You could also go with an all news station. Some of them partner with tv stations and you get twice the bang for the buck (still free). But music could be nice. A jazz station is a good in between. There may even be a local high school jazz band that could play. You should not be charged for these things. It's all about community support and co-promotion.

Good luck with your event!

Ditto to what Anita said, I hit all the local radio stations for my walk events, I wanted all types of people. I am actually in the process of getting a radio station to broadcast from my event. We are having live music so they are interested in coming. Being a councilman, you might carry some weight with these people. I just keep going until someone says no.

David, I will send you the contact info for the Florida walk in a pm. That would be great to see if you can support the walk event.

Thanks!!

Susan

OK got it and I am forwarding both of your comments to my worker bee at the city. She has been great organizing this and that. We already have a Press Release that we have used a few times already and we already have a hand out/tape up color brochure ready to go.

Thanks again and keep the ideas coming...

Here is the Press Release:

Gulfport�s Free Oral Cancer Screening

The City of Gulfport, in conjunction with the Oral Cancer Foundation, will be hosting a free Oral Cancer Screening on Saturday, May 8, from 10 a.m. � 2 p.m. at the Walgreen�s parking lot on the corner of 58th St. S. and Gulfport Blvd. S. in Gulfport. This event was spearheaded by Councilman David Hastings through his experience with fighting oral cancer and being a survivor.

Oral cancer belongs to the head and neck cancer group, and is often referred to by other names such as; tongue cancer, mouth cancer, tonsil cancer, lip cancer, and throat cancer. While some people think this is a rare cancer, it is not. Approximately 100 people in the U.S. will be newly diagnosed with oral cancer each day, and it takes a life in the U.S. every hour of every day.

The key to reducing the death rate of oral cancer is earlier detection, and the key to that is for all adults to receive opportunistic oral cancer examinations at least once a year. Tobacco users, heavy alcohol users, and those with a prior history of cancer should be examined more frequently. Even people who do not share those traits should be examined annually in light of the mounting evidence of a link between oral cancer and the sexually transmitted human papilloma virus (HPV type 16).

This event is co-sponsored by the City of Gulfport and the Oral Cancer Foundation. To learn more about oral cancer go to www.oralcancer.org<http://www.oralcancer.org> on the web. For event information, email [email protected] or call Gail Biron at 727-893-1118.

Is Walgreen's involved? Could they donate a goodie bag with toothpaste, OCF brochure, Walgreen coupon, dentist info, to the first 200 that show up?

Another great suggestion....and I thought I knew everything!!

How about contacting the Health news reporter from the major TV stations in your area to get coverage of your event? They could do a nice story on oral cancer tying in with OCF and screening.

Def contacting the health reporter is the way to go!!! Since it is the first event in the area, it might get great coverage and since you are a councilman, you have some pull!

Your area will great coverage due to the Pinellas County Dental Hygienist Walk in November, you might be able to tie that in as well.

Thanks Anita!!!

Susan