ATLANTA (September 17, 2012) – The American Cancer Society, in partnership with Changing A Generation FGBC, will host “A Call to Action” gospel concert on Saturday, October 6 at Changing A Generation Church in Atlanta to increase cancer awareness and action within Atlanta’s African American community. The event, with free admission and the first of its kind in Atlanta, is a combination of music and ministry designed to address the well-being of the African American community from a holistic perspective: mind, body and spirit. The concert is part of the Partnering for Life Health and Wellness Tour, which will provide ongoing education and outreach in the Atlanta community through health ministry trainings and a health forum
The Call to Action gospel concert will feature performances by Stellar Award winner Beverly Crawford, Patrick Lundy and the Ministers of Music, Pastor William Murphy of the dReam Center Church of Atlanta and gospel recording star, and will also feature a special appearance by Bishop Paul S. Morton. The event begins at 5 p.m. at Changing A Generation, 3350 Greenbriar Parkway SW, Atlanta 30331.
The overarching goal of the Partnering For Life Health and Wellness Tour and the gospel concert is to encourage community members to talk about cancer and to seek appropriate cancer screenings. Concert attendees will be given the opportunity to fill out a screening referral card at the event. They will then be contacted by local medical providers who can discuss and arrange for recommended cancer screenings for colon and breast cancers.
“The American Cancer Society is working to increase disease awareness and encourage dialogue and action among African American community members,” says the Reverend Tawana Thomas-Johnson, the Society’s Director of Health Disparities in the South Atlantic Division. “Despite decreases in overall cancer death rates across all racial and ethnic groups since the early 1990s, there are still racial disparities in cancer mortality. African Americans have the highest risk of all major ethnic groups in the United States of being diagnosed with and dying of cancer. The gospel concert and the Health and Wellness Tour will help create awareness of cancer risks and other health issues among the African American community.”
According to the American Cancer Society, although the overall racial disparity in cancer deaths is decreasing, the death rate for all cancers combined is 32 percent higher for African American men and 16 percent higher for African American women than in white men and women. While the five-year cancer survival rate for African Americans has improved, African Americans continue to be less likely than whites to survive five years at each stage of diagnosis for most cancers.
Partners for the concert and Health and Wellness Tour in Atlanta include Northside Hospital, the Fulton County Department of Health, Conference of National Black Churches, Access to Wholistic and Productive Living Institute and Black women’s Imperative. For more information about this initiative, contact SAEventPartneringForLife@cancer.org or 888-202-7604.
The American Cancer Society combines an unyielding passion with nearly a century of experience to save lives and end suffering from cancer. As a global grassroots force of more than three million volunteers, we fight for every birthday threatened by every cancer in every community. We save lives by helping people stay well by preventing cancer or detecting it early; helping people get well by being there for them during and after a cancer diagnosis; by finding cures through investment in groundbreaking discovery; and by fighting back by rallying lawmakers to pass laws to defeat cancer and by rallying communities worldwide to join the fight. As the nation’s largest non-governmental investor in cancer research, contributing more than $3.5 billion, we turn what we know about cancer into what we do. As a result, more than 11 million people in America who have had cancer and countless more who have avoided it will be celebrating birthdays this year. To learn more about us or to get help, call us any time, day or night, at 1-800-227-2345 or visit cancer.org. For cancer news in your community, visit sacancernews.org.