March 22, 2018 | Stephen Fine, Founder and President
15 Minutes Could Save You 15 Lives or More
It’s great hearing that we may be able to save some money by switching car insurance companies. But how much greater would it be to take those same 15 minutes and, with very little effort, save lives?
Hands Across America
Since 1999, the non-profit public charity Melanoma Education Foundation (MEF) has worked tirelessly to educate teens about the dangers of skin cancers, as well as how to avoid them. Part of that education includes getting our free, highly-effective Melanoma Lessons into the hands of as many of our nation’s health teachers as possible.
The numbers speak for themselves. At last count, our lessons were being taught to students in over 1,700 middle and high schools across the United States. This skin cancer education has saved the lives of students, their teachers, and their friends and family. How? Because the teachers learn health information they weren’t aware of, and the students spread what they’ve learned to the people in their lives.
The goals of our mission are two-fold: teach teens how to look for and report any potential skin cancer, and teach them how they can protect themselves from getting it in the first place.
And you can help us to help them.
Volunteer to Make a Difference
We’d like to provide some information on each of the 3 ways you can help further the cause of melanoma education with us.
(Please note: Students who participate in any of the following opportunities will receive community service verification letters from the MEF for their project hours. Also, HOSA is an acronym for Health Occupation Students of America. To learn about these 3 volunteering opportunities in greater detail, please click here: VolunteerMatch).
Volunteer Opportunity 1
Share information about a one-page downloadable document on early self-detection of melanoma through social media.
(To read this highly-informative life-saving document, please click here: See Spot…Health Alert for Teens). Although originally targeted for teens it applies to adults as well.
This is available to volunteers of all ages.
Its Purpose:
Social media is an incredible tool in the battle against skin cancer that wasn’t even available at all a generation ago. The ability to reach a massive number of people over its various platforms allows melanoma education to get around the world in ways that, until recently, just weren’t available.
And few people have mastered its use more proficiently than the group in the exact age range the MEF’s Lessons were created for. That is a huge win-win for melanoma education not only in America, but all over the globe.
Volunteer Opportunity 2
Teaching other students at middle and high schools, that are not currently using the MEF Melanoma Lessons, about melanoma self-detection.
This opportunity is open to high school students and community college student volunteers.
Its Purpose:
To get students to educate other students in their schools about self-detection and risk-reduction of melanoma. This is done with minimal effort through showing those students a short 16-minute video, which we will provide to the volunteer.
Volunteer Opportunity 3
Obtaining public contact information on health teachers and HOSA faculty advisers from school websites.
This is available to people who:
- Are 14 or older
- Have a laptop, PC or tablet with either Microsoft XL or Mac Numbers installed
This can be done from anywhere at any time and involves no selling, phone calls or fundraising.
Its Purpose:
To allow the MEF to reach out to health teachers regarding our Melanoma Lessons. Every new educator who uses them equals more lives saved.