With over 30 CEOs in attendance, this year’s event was one of the largest to date. The new CEOs Against Cancer Co-Chairs announced were:
- Will Cook, University of Colorado Hospital
- Tom Allen, Intermountain Electric, Inc
- Tim Schaden, Fluency Health
Other meeting summaries include:
Grounding Us in Fact – Excess Weight & Cancer
CEO’s Against Cancer Chapter Chair, Kim Bimestefer, walked us through how obesity increases the risk of cancer and employers can start making a difference in their workplaces. As leaders we need to educate our employees on the connection between excess weight and cancer risk and show them that a healthy diet helps the body to fight and prevent cancer.
Pay It Forward Colorado – Research
Dr. Traci Lyons, Associate Professor, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus gave the group an overview of the progression of her research. Dr. Lyons was initially funded by the American Cancer Society as a post-doctoral fellow and was recently awarded a $720,000 research scholar grant supporting her research into postpartum breast cancer.
Early Detection – 80 x 2018 Campaign
Dr. Dennis Ahnen with the National Colorectal Roundtable and the University of Colorado School of Medicine presented the nationwide effort to increase colorectal cancer screening rates to 80% by 2018. Employers have a large role to play in this effort as colorectal cancer is common and lethal but largely preventable. Employers can help by increasing their internal colorectal cancer screening rates to save lives, and potentially money, in the process. Will Cook, CEO of University of Colorado Hospital shared his commitment to getting his hospital involved, as well as the entire University of Colorado Health System. Tim Schaden, CEO of Fluency Health, is contributing to the outreach strategy.
Prevention – Workplace Health Assessment
American Cancer Society Senior Director, Scott Dishong gave a high level overview of the Workplace Health Assessment. The Workplace Health Assessment is a gap analysis between what a company is currently doing to improve workplace wellness and what the American Cancer Society considers best practices. The discussion was kicked off by Steve Bangert, CEO, CoBiz Financial, who discussed how they have benefited from partnering with the American Cancer Society and the Workplace Health Assessment over the past 7 years. Steve believes it has helped employee engagement and ultimately helped CoBiz Financial fiscally in the process. Tom Allen, CEO, Intermountain Electric, continued the conversation by discussing their experience after being a partner of the American Cancer Society for the past 3 months. Tom expressed the importance of gaining buy in from his leadership team to ensure that the partnership was sustainable.
