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August 3, 2006—Chicago, IL)— Amidst avid soccer competition among hundreds of Chicago youth players and visits by soccer sensation Freddy Adu and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, a team of Chicago dermatologist members of the Women’s Dermatologic Society (WDS) helped crowds practice sun safety at the recent Mayor’s Cup Soccer Tournament in Lincoln Park. As part of the award-winning national community service outreach, Families Play Safe in the Sun, the local volunteer dermatologists provided free skin cancer screenings, sun safety educational materials and sunscreen to players, coaches and families, including many people who had never before experienced a skin cancer screening.
Chicago marked the seventh stop of a 15-city, three-year tour of the Women’s Dermatologic Society’s national sun safety educational campaign, which is made possible through a $1,000,000 grant from the 3M Foundation. This family and youth-oriented community outreach, which recently received the prestigious Gold Triangle award from the American Academy of Dermatology, promotes sun safety as a way of life. Private practice Chicago dermatologist and WDS Executive Board member Marianne O’Donoghue, MD hosted the local volunteer effort at the Mayor’s Cup tournament.
To raise awareness about sun safety, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley declared July 22 as “Families Play Safe in the Sun Day", and donned a 45 SPF sun protective hat at the event.
Highlights from the community outreach include:
- Volunteers conducted 108 skin cancer screenings, the majority of which were first-time experiences.
- 11,000 sunscreen samples distributed to the soccer community
- 79 children entered the national Families Play Safe in the Sun coloring contest
- 20 people signed up for the WDS “Adopt-a-School” program featuring the Environmental Protection Agency’s Sun-Wise Kit for educators, paired with a local WDS dermatologist who may volunteer at schools and after-school programs.
The following WDS members volunteered a combined total of 90 hours for the community outreach service: Kellie Berggren, MD; Anna Ciurea, MD; Amy Derick, MD; Louisa Gehlman, MD, Amy Hawrot, MD; Elaine Kung, MD; Anne Laumann, MD; Diana Leu, MD; Minyang Mao, MD; Ginat Mirowski, MD; Arlene Molino, MD; Marianne O’Donaghue, MD; Joy Rico, MD; Vishakha Sharma, MD; Ashley Smith, MD, Lucie White, MD; and Patt Wyhinny, MD. Volunteer support was also provided by Amy Chen; Stephanie Ciurea; Michael Derick; Susan Leu, MS; George Wyhinny; David Wintermeyer and Michael Wintermeyer.
In addition to generous funding from the 3M Foundation, product donations were provided by Coolibar; Del-Ray Dermatologicals; Dermatologic Cosmetic Laboratories; Ortho Neutrogena; Procter & Gamble; Schering-Plough; Skyrad; and Starberry, Ltd. DermaScans were furnished by Schering-Plough.
The WDS campaign draws from its 1,200 members nationally to provide volunteer support in local communities to reach out to diverse populations to heighten sun safety awareness and healthy practices.
Families Play Safe in the Sun will visit St. Louis, MO and Austin, TX in the coming months. For further information, please visit: www.playsafeinthesun.org or www.womensderm.org.
