A Skin-Saving Sunscreen Campaign
You can't hide from skin cancer! Do you know that having one bad, blistering sunburn as a child can more than double your chances of developing melanoma (the most dangerous type of skin cancer) later in life? Or that your risk of skin cancer increases with each sunburn you get? Do you know that people of color can get skin cancer on body parts like palms and soles of feet, where skin pigment is lighter?
You can make it hard for skin cancer to find you, though. Wearing head coverings and protective clothing helps. Applying and reapplying sunscreen to exposed skin year-round is especially important.
In June 2024, the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center (Case CCC) launched a pilot program to bring awareness to and help prevent skin cancer—the most common cancer in the United States and Ohio. Together, with our friends at and , we have installed sunscreen dispensers at Cleveland Metroparks beaches and golf courses for free, convenient, and easy access to FDA-approved, 30 SPF sunscreen.
Park visitors should look for the free-standing, no-touch dispensers featuring a bright orange and yellow sunburst with messaging in both Spanish and English at the following lakefront and lifeguard stations: Edgewater Beach, Huntington Beach, Euclid Beach, Wallace Lake, and Ledge Pool. Golf courses with dispensers include Big Met, Little Met, Ironwood, Manakiki, Mastick Woods, Seneca, Shawnee Hills, Sleepy Hollow, and Washington.
We hope that you use the free sunscreen often to stop the burn and save your skin!
Resources
Melanoma Incidence & Mortality Rates 2017-2021
Case CCC Catchment Area Cancer Burden Report 2024
Who is Case CCC?
Since 1985, Case CCC has supported the research efforts of the three largest biomedical organizations in the region: ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½, Cleveland Clinic, and University Hospitals. While the benefits of our research are felt worldwide, our main commitment is in our catchment area—the 15 northeast Ohio counties and the 4 million people who live there. Our researchers conduct amazing science, including work on skin cancer prevention and treatment. Our goal is to prevent, treat, and cure cancer.
How Can My Organization Participate?
At the close of this pilot project, organizations are invited to sponsor dispensers and co-brand with Case CCC, the only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center in northeast Ohio. Protecting our community by providing access to sunscreen at parks, beaches, pools, golf courses, and other outdoor spaces is likely to reduce rates of melanoma and other skin cancers. Case CCC provides the portable, stand-alone sunscreen dispensers, FDA-approved sunscreen, refills throughout the summer, and an opportunity for co-branding. You'd be on the ground floor of this type of public skin cancer prevention campaign in northeast Ohio.