OSWEGO – While the season is winding down for the Oswego High School (OHS) Marching Band the OHS Band Parents’ Association and Oswego County Opportunities (OCO) Cancer Prevention in Action (CPiA) program are already looking ahead to next year.
When the band practices and performs they often spend hours in the sun. That extended exposure to sunlight can cause lasting skin damage and may lead to skin cancer. With that in mind, the OHS Band Parents Association has partnered with OCO’s CPiA to establish a sun safety policy for band members.
“Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States,” said Coordinator of Community Health for OCO, Leanna Cleveland. “It is estimated that one in every five people will develop skin cancer in their lifetime. The sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays can damage your skin in as little as 15 minutes, but with the proper safety precautions you can protect yourself against skin cancer.”
CPiA focuses on educating community members on what they can do to prevent cancer. Working with CPiA, the OHS Band Parent Association has established a sun safety policy to protect participants from skin damage and limit exposure to the suns UV rays.
“The safety of our band members and those that come to watch us is always a priority,” said OHS Band Parent Association Board President Allison Griffin. “Our sun safety policy will promote basic personal strategies for preventing skin cancer. Through our partnership with OCO’s CPiA we will be providing band members with long-sleeved UV protected shirts, wide brimmed hats, and 100% UVA/UVB protected sunglasses. We practice outdoors from the first week in August through November 1st. The items we received from CPiA will be so helpful to protect band members from sunburns… Additionally, sun safety instruction will be incorporated into marching band practice and concert activities. Marching band participants will be encouraged and reminded to practice basic personal strategies for preventing skin cancer through sun safety reminder rack cards for review and verbal reminders to band participants.”
Cleveland said the CPiA was thrilled to work with the Band Parents’ Association to implement the sun safety policy.
“I commend them for their dedication to student cancer prevention through policy implementation and education surrounding personal sun safety strategies,” Cleveland said.
OCO is a subcontractor of the St. Lawrence Health Initiative to delivering CPiA messages locally in Oswego County. To learn more about CPiA, visit takeactionagainstcancer.com.
*CPiA is supported by funds from the State of New York.
Did you know that OCO is celebrating its 55th Anniversary? Fifty-five years ago, OCO was officially incorporated as the county’s “Economic Opportunity” agency (now referred to as Community Action Agency). The agency was “born” as a result of President Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty” and while the words have changed slightly over time, OCO’s mission has stayed true to empowering people, supporting the community and changing lives…particularly for those who lack resources to thrive.
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