Herding Cows

Skip has been using an analogy around the office about not creating one big cow for the prostate cancer community but to get the herd to face in the same the direction. It's been quite popular except among the staff who have heard it makes its way into nearly every conversation he has with someone.

It is however, a pretty good analogy for us to go by -- we (prostate cancer advocates, doctors, patients and others involved in the community) are all trying to help prostate cancer patients, survivors, future patients and family members and friends. It makes sense that we should do so together in cooperation with each other as we walk down the path of eliminating prostate cancer from our lives. I have been transforming the public policy division to try to incorporate as many issues as possible to help others increase awareness about their part in fighting prostate cancer as well as to be a repository of information in regards to issues, legislation and policy.

Others from our organization have also been reaching out broadly to create partnerships with folks in hopes of increasing our visibility in the general public, in media and on Capitol Hill. So far, things are going very well -- we are beginning to work with folks like AUA Foundation, expanding the issues we work on with the AACU, talking to groups and companies like the Admetech Foundation and Navigenics as well as working with more and more people from around the country and getting them involved in the things that we do as well as things that other people do.

As for our organization, we are very excited about the direction we are heading. We have recently transitioned to new leadership -- Skip Lockwood is our new CEO/President, Jamie Bearse is now COO and Betsy London is a Senior VP along with myself (Betsy is taking the lead on most of our events and has been a BIG help with this year's September summit).

The Summit (formerly the Prostate Cancer Congressional Fly-In) is nearly to the full capacity of 50 participants. The event is going to be an exciting 2-1/2 days on Capitol Hill and I'm really looking forward to it. In addition, we will be announcing a fundraising event before the fly-in soon that will be a lot of fun. Another event that is being planned for September 28 is the Dash for Dad (www.dashfordad.org) -- a 10k race in Alexandria, Virginia to help us raise awareness and fight prostate cancer.

So, there's a lot going on here in DC and we're hoping that it will help us to kick off another BIG announcement coming (hopefully) in August. Stay tuned for that one.

One final announcement I have to make is about Heather. Many of you have worked with Heather or heard from Heather about our policy events and initiatives, but she is no longer with our organization. She came to us from the Red Cross and while she grew to love the work we were doing in policy here at NPCC, her true love was always helping disaster victims through the Red Cross. So, they came and offered her a great job with the regional chapter here in the DC-VA-MD area and she took it. Her last day was today (Friday, June 6) and we will miss her a lot and I will miss her the most. BUT -- I have hired a replacement. Her name is Marie and you will hear from her soon enough. Her first day is June 16 and I'm excited to get her here and taking up where Heather has left off.