Taking it to the Street 4 Life

T he U.S. spends 75 percent of 2.5 trillion annual healthcare dollars on treatment of chronic conditions. However, only three pennies of every dollar are allocated towards prevention.

According to the Florida Department of Health, Duval County’s deaths from cancer are higher than the state’s statistics itself at a rate of 170 per 100,000 people. It’s unfortunate our neighbors are dying due to a lack of knowledge, significantly late diagnoses, insufficient access to care, and the absence of insurance.

To help promote awareness and provide information, our program, Taking it to the Streets for Life, goes directly to the doors of residents in the most at-risk communities.

We deliver information on cancer signs and symptoms with referrals to resources for those who are uninsured.

The value of our ongoing intervention is an increase in early detection and a reduction in healthcare costs. This comes as a welcomed relief I imagine since Floridians currently pay a "hidden tax" of $1.4 billion for uncompensated care.

What we are asking of you today is to join with us to expand our reach into more communities so that we can continue our efforts to improve the health of our city one door at a time; one neighbor at a time.