ACG Governor’s Creative Tactics during March CRC Month Promote ACG’s Screening Message in Southern California

As a new ACG Governor of Southern California, Zelman Weingarten, MD, FACG, tapped into some excellent connections and creative strategies to raise awareness of the lifesaving importance of colorectal cancer screening.

His pitch to producers of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, resulted in a public service announcement by Ellen on her March 28th show encouraging people to overcome their fears and reluctance, and take an active approach to their health by getting screened for colorectal cancer. Ellen’s call-to-action for colorectal cancer screening, especially her humor and candor, drew much needed attention to the lifesaving importance of colorectal cancer screening. To raise the College’s profile as a public source of health information on colorectal cancer, Ellen included a link to the ACG web site on her homepage.

As a result of Dr. Weingarten’s outreach efforts, Cardinal Roger Mahony, the Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles, published a statement in English and Spanish in The Tidings and Vida Nueva, two of Southern California’s Archdiocesan newspapers, emphasizing the importance of colorectal cancer screening. Cardinal Mahony credits colonoscopy for saving his life and urged readers to talk to their doctor about getting screened for this highly preventable disease.

“As a gastroenterologist, I greatly believe in the benefits that colorectal cancer screening provides, and through public awareness and education efforts, we can dramatically decrease the incidence of colorectal cancer deaths and save lives,” said Dr. Weingarten.