TOPSHAM — Cancer survivor Janet Miles from Livermore represented Maine at the annual volunteer leadership summit for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network in the nation’s capital in April. ACS CAN gathers volunteer leaders from across the country at the annual State Lead Ambassadors Summit to prepare them to lead grassroots campaigns on federal legislative issues impacting the fight against cancer.

ACS CAN, the advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, is the leading cancer advocacy organization fighting to make cancer a national priority with lawmakers. Founded in 2001, ACS CAN has built a nationwide movement of advocates who are working to pass legislation and policies that help fight cancer, a disease that continues to kill an estimated 1,500 people a day in the United States.

This is Miles’ first year attending the summit, but for many years she has helped champion ACS CAN’s legislative priorities with both lawmakers and other advocate.

“I am honored to represent Maine as an advocate in the fight against cancer,” said Miles. “We want to make cancer history. We need to take action to make cancer a national priority by ensuring that lawmakers are supporting evidence-based policy and legislative solutions that will help defeat the disease.”

Miles works closely with ACS CAN staff to manage volunteer activities across the state. She also attends meetings with lawmakers on ACS CAN’s priority legislative issues. She has travelled to Washington, D.C. several times to meet with lawmakers, and was an ACS CAN Celebration on the Hill Ambassador in 2006.

At the summit, Miles met with her volunteer counterparts from all 50 states, along with national and state ACS CAN staff, to discuss and develop legislative campaign strategies for the next year.

“We are excited to work with Janet this year to implement legislative campaigns in Maine,” said Hilary Schneider, state director of government relations and advocacy. “Together we will strive for increased cancer research funding, better access to quality health care and preventive cancer screenings and strong tobacco control policies at the state and federal levels.”

This year’s summit emphasized the importance of continued federal funding for cancer research and prevention programs, increasing the federal tobacco tax to encourage adults to quit smoking and prevent kids from starting the habit and palliative care legislation that can improve the quality of life of cancer patients and survivors by coordinating care and providing relief from pain, stress and other symptoms of treatment and care.

For more information, visit www.acscan.org.

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