NSU and South Florida will join the American Lung Association to celebrate National Women’s Lung Health Week May 10 to 16 with the Turquoise Takeover initiative.
Turquoise Takeover is part of the association’s initiative called Lung Force, which raises awareness about lung cancer and lung cancer in women.
Area Director of the American Lung Association in Florida Cariann Moore said that lung cancer is the number one cancer killer for men and women. However, despite this, many people don’t know that lung cancer is the number one cancer killer in women and has been since 1987. The five-year survival rate for lung cancer is about 17 percent.
“The American Lung Association did a survey about two years and only 1 percent of women who were surveyed had lung cancer on their radar as a potential threat to them,” Moore said. “That’s when the association really decided that we needed to make a strong push toward building awareness.”
Chair of the American Lung Association Lung Force Women’s Cabinet Susan Horovitz Maurer said this initiative is new to Florida and that its main goal is to raise awareness. On April 21, she and Moore met with students from the President’s 64 and other students to discuss the initiative with them and encourage them to wear turquoise and display the color on their social media sites.
“The point is not to ask for contributions but to have somebody look at a little turquoise ribbon on your shirt and say, ‘What’s that about?’ or ask ‘Why did you turn your Facebook page turquoise this week?’ so you can say ‘Lung cancer is the number one cancer killer of people in America,’” Maurer said. “What we want people to do is seek earlier diagnoses and earlier treatment and when we do that , we believe it will lead to greater federal funding.”
Maurer also contacted NSU leaders to spread the word about Turquoise Takeover. As a result, posters with facts about lung cancer will be posted in the Terry Administration Building and the Shark Fountain will be lit turquoise for the week.
Typically, the association’s corporate partners have their staff wear turquoise clothing and pins to raise awareness on social media about lung cancer. This year in Fort Lauderdale, the Bank of America Plaza, the 110 Tower and the fountain in the Huizenga Plaza will go turquoise for the week with lights. Maurer also said Broward County and Davie will write proclamations regarding the Turquoise Takeover.
“Ultimately, our goal is to raise more money and to raise more awareness so that we can increase survival rates,” Moore said.
To learn more about lung cancer and the Turquoise Takeover, visit lungforce.org.
Photo: Students wore turquoise to learn more about breast cancer at a lunch in April.
