Dear Friends,
Happy Holidays! As I take in the beauty of the season and enjoy its many gifts, I am reminded of all the things for which I am thankful - loving family, close friends, good health, secure surroundings, and, most importantly, YOU, faithful friend and ally of VAX 2 STOP CANCER. I am deeply grateful for the many ways in which YOU enable us to realize success and keep marching towards our goal of an HPV cancer free Alabama.
Thanks to your support, 2024 was a year of accomplishment and progress for our HPV Vaccination Provider Education Program. We have seen steady and significant increases in HPV vaccination rates in the practices we have trained this year. We believe this is a direct result of the skills and strategies that we teach the providers and is also facilitated by the resources we leave with them and the coaching we provide throughout the year of their QI project. Your support allows us to do all of this.
And we ask for your continued support in the new year ahead! We believe it will be an exciting one in terms of our programming, but also a challenging one, in terms of the new administration in Washington, DC. Please continue to advocate for the HPV vaccine, including the scientific research underlying its development, as well as its remarkable 18-year safety record. Now, more than ever, we all need to stand by the powerful and undeniable potential of this vaccine to eliminate HPV cancers, in our lifetime.
I wish you and your loved ones a very blessed holiday season and a peaceful and healthy new year. Here's to increasing HPV vaccination rates even more in 2025! With Gratitude, Barbara S. Schuler CEO and Founder |
Your gift to VAX 2 STOP CANCER will prevent HPV cancers in Alabama. |
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Program Update - Looking Ahead |
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We have a new and exciting year ahead of us... Here's the short list of our 2025 Program Goals: -
continue to train pediatric and family medicine providers on how to raise their practice HPV vaccination rates
- develop and launch an HPV Vaccine Advocacy Program for OB/GYN practitioners
- design an HPV Educational Program for college campuses
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| Spotlight
on Our Trainees |
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Pictured are some of the doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, medical assistants and front desk staff from several of the wonderful practices that we trained in 2024.
The practices are at different points in the yearlong QI project that follows the HPV Vaccination Education. Arrows (↑) indicate HPV vaccination rate increases, as of November.
The way the QI project works: every three months, post-training, we assess a practice's progress by looking at the percentage of 9–13-year-old patients who are up to date on the HPV vaccine and comparing it to their baseline rate at the time they started in the program. |
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| Tanner Medical Clinic Tanner, AL
4 providers trained ↑ 5% |
| | Kids First Pediatrics Dr. Elliot Peters
Scottsboro, AL 5 providers trained
↑ 6% |
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Health Serices, Inc. (FQHC)
Montgomery, Autaugaville, Eclectic, Hayneville, Clanton, Montevallo and Ramer, AL 26 providers (at 11 clinics) trained
↑ 5% (avg.) |
| | Heritage Pediatrics
Dr. Chante Ruffin Alexander City, AL 4 providers trained ↑ 2% |
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Andalusia Pediatrics Dr. Srividhya Sridharan Andalusia, AL 4 providers trained |
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Over the Rainbow Pediatrics Dr. JoAnn Johnson Huntsville, AL 9 providers trained |
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| Pediatric Clinic
Drs. Brooke Haynes, Lisa Young, Sara Smith T, Megan Willis Opeleika, AL
13 providers trained |
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| Do you remember in the last Newsletter, when the CEO talked about the value of partnerships? About how important they are to the work we do to increase HPV vaccination rates and eliminate HPV cancers? The letter to the left is a perfect example of this! ⇐ ⇐ ⇐ ⇐ ⇐ ⇐ ⇐ ⇐ ⇐ ⇐ ⇐ ⇐ ⇐
After months of communication and collaboration with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama and many partner organizations, Barbara created this commanding document, addressing the need to increase our state adolescent HPV vaccination rates, as well as showcasing 15 professional health organizations that support this cause. Last week, Blue Cross Blue Shield sent an e-blast to every one of its Pediatric and Family Medicine providers, with the message:
"VAX 2 STOP CANCER encourages providers to recommend the HPV vaccine to patients." And it included a link to this letter, on the VAX 2 STOP CANCER website.
Talk about having an impact! |
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Have you seen...
VAX 2 STOP CANCER's Social Media? |
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There are 4.9 billion people who use social media platforms worldwide. So having a presence on social is one of the best and most economical ways to connect with both our current and potential supporters alike. Thanks to our new Communications Manager (read about her below), our posts are getting more views than ever. Which means that more people, in Alabama and beyond, are learning about the HPV vaccine and the work of VAX 2 STOP CANCER.
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Mary Elizabeth Carlton
Welcome to VAX 2 STOP CANCER |
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Mary Elizabeth Carlton, B.S. Communications Manager
We’re thrilled to welcome Mary Elizabeth to the team at VAX 2 STOP CANCER! She is a proud honors graduate of Auburn University, with a degree in Marketing with a minor in Personal Sales. Her journey into the nonprofit sector began with the United Way Loaned Executive Program. She is eager to apply her nonprofit skills of fostering community relationships and leading impactful campaigns to advancing VAX 2 STOP CANCER’s mission. V2SC's work resonates with Mary Elizabeth and aligns with her lifelong commitment to making a difference by helping others. Growing up with personal health challenges developed in her a profound empathy for those navigating the complexities of healthcare. This perspective fuels her dedication to empowering individuals and communities with education and access to preventative care like the HPV vaccine.
When she’s not working, Mary Elizabeth is preparing for her February wedding to her fiancé, Phoenix! She also enjoys nurturing her love of plants, caring for animals, and channeling her creativity into everything she does. |
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One thing that I want the public to know is that the HPV vaccine is not just a vaccine - it's cancer prevention and it is completely safe! I know this firsthand, as I was vaccinated as a child, and it was one of the best decisions my parents ever made for my health. This vaccine provides life-saving protection against cancers caused by HPV, offering peace of mind and a healthier future for all! |
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From the President of Medicine & Science,
City of Hope Cancer Centers (Atlanta, Chicago and Phoenix)
Low HPV Vaccination in the United States is a Public Health 'Failure' |
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Dr. Maurie Markman, a nationally renowned cancer expert, discusses recent data on the disappointing proportion of HPV vaccination coverage in the United States. Read about these data in the manuscript published by the Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Disease Control and Prevention: |
| This is why the work of VAX 2 STOP CANCER
is so IMPORTANT! |
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From Healio News as reported by Dali, et al. in JAMA, published online November 27, 2024 "Cervical cancer mortality in ‘steep decline’ among young women"
READ MORE HERE "This is an important public health milestone that signifies the importance of HPV vaccination."
-- Ashish A. Deshmukh, PhD, MPH, associate professor of public health sciences and co-leader of the Cancer Control program at Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Hollings Cancer Center |
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| Find us on your favorite social media site! |
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