Sun safe summer

Parks & Recreation, July, 2003

This year, more than one million Americans will learn they have skin cancer. That's more than twice the number of people who will hear they have prostate or breast cancer, making skin cancer the most common cancer in the U.S. If caught early, skin cancers are highly curable, yet the American Cancer Society expects about 7,600 deaths this year from melanoma, the most virulent of skin cancers.

Does your agency help your community protect its skin? Do you have sun covers over playground equipment? Shaded areas for summer campers? Is your pool cool? How about offering a skin cancer screening day at your center?

The Cancer Research Center of the University of Hawaii and NRPA are launching a new phase of the award-winning POOL COOL program--a national skin cancer awareness, education and prevention program. NRPA is recruiting 400 outdoor swimming pools from 28 metropolitan regions across the country to participate in a three-year research study. Participating swimming pools will receive free lifeguard training, valuable educational materials (instructional books, lessons, teaching aids, posters, signs, etc.), as well as other incentives just for participating in the program.

The POOL COOL program is also recruiting 100 experienced aquatics/recreation professionals to act as field coordinators to help administer the program. Participating field coordinators will receive a stipend plus expenses and will be eligible to receive a free NRPA board-certified training program on skin cancer prevention and the POOL COOL program

For more information about the program, contact Tom Elliott, project director for the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, at 808-441-3482 or poolcool@crch.hawaii.edu.