The UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center will participate in a public event to celebrate National Cancer Survivors Day in Sharon Meadow in Golden Gate Park on Sunday, June 3. The event will feature speakers, informational/interactive booths and entertainment - as well as a "Flame for Life" torch walk beginning at the Murphy Windmill in Golden Gate Park.
Events and booths will include:
· Viewing a Remembrance Quilt Display and participating in a Quilt Creation Booth sponsored by the UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center Art for Recovery program. People will be able to remember friends and loved ones by designing a square to be part of a quilt created on-site.
· Signing a large banner thanking healthcare professionals for the treatment, care and love shown to their patients. The banner will be signed by cancer survivors to honor their personal physicians, nurses, social workers and other healthcare professionals.
· Visiting educational booths that provide information on cancer agencies, non-profit organizations, hospitals, materials on clinical trials and complementary therapies such as yoga and massage.
· Participating in a National Marrow Donor Program booth at which people can be tissue-typed to become a potential bone marrow donor.
· Children's activities will include entertainment by Wavy Gravy, face painting, and a martial arts demonstration. Baseball fans will enjoy meeting Orlando Cepeda, who will be mingling with the crowd.
"National Cancer Survivors Day is a great opportunity to bring together a community of people whose lives have been touched by cancer, and to affirm the possibility of a quality life after a diagnosis of cancer," says UCSF Cancer Resource Center specialist Elizabeth Ortega Lau. "It is a day to celebrate and honor the 8.9 million cancer survivors, their families, friends, and healthcare providers."
The UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center will host a booth providing educational brochures, flyers on cancer support groups and information on supportive care services.
More than 700 other communities throughout the United States and Canada participate in National Cancer Survivors Day.
The observance is coordinated nationally by the National Cancer Survivors Day Foundation, a nonprofit organization that works with hospitals, support groups and other cancer-related organizations throughout North America. Inspiration for the events was provided by cancer survivor Richard Bloch, a co-founder of H&R Block, and his wife, Annette, who organized a Cancer Survivor Rally in Kansas City in 1986.
While National Cancer Survivor's Day has been held annually for 13 years, San Francisco will observe the occasion for the first time this year.
Among the sponsoring and hosting organizations for this year's San Francisco event are the American Cancer Society San Francisco Unit, Amgen, Inc., Cancer Links.com, Cancer Supportive Care, Charlotte Maxwell Complementary Clinic, Genentech, Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Odwalla, Ortho Biotech Oncology, Peet's Coffee and Tea, San Francisco Giants Baseball Club, San Francisco Opera, Stanford Clinical Care, Stanford University Hospital, The Susan G. Komen Foundation and the UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center.
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ONSTAGE PROGRAM
Martin Wyatt, the Channel 7 Sports anchor, will emcee from 10:30 to 11:30 am
All times are approximate.
SPEAKERS
10:30 am Martin Wyatt welcomes the crowd and announces the arrival of Louise Renne (SF City Attorney and breast cancer survivor) with the "Flame for Life" which has been carried through the park. Ms Renne delivers the keynote speech, officially opening the festivities.
10:40 am S.F. Mayor Willie Brown reads a Proclamation naming June 3 as National Cancer Survivors Day in San Francisco.
10:48 am Ernie Rosenbaum, M.D., UCSF, will speak on "What It Means to be a Survivor"
10:56 am Walter Johnson, head of the San Francisco Labor Council (and cancer survivor) will speak on "Survivors in the Work Place"
11:04 am Jennie Cook, who pioneered the "No Smoking in the Work Place" campaign, will speak on "The passage of California Assembly Bill 13, (The Smoke Free Work Place)"
11:12 am Vida Blue will speak on "Winning the Game When the Odds Are Against You"
ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAM
11:30 am Ballet Folklorico Ensambles de San Francisco (Mexican Folkloric Dancers)
12:00 pm Cappuccino, a Cello and Violin Duet
12:35 pm Code Blue, a Barbershop Quartet - (made up of Bay Area doctors)
1:30 pm The Mike Vax Jazz Orchestra
2:15 pm Lofti Mansouri, General Director of San Francisco Opera - introduces two S.F. Opera Singers
2:45 pm West America Tae Kwon Do Demonstration Group