I joined the Rotary Club of Peabody in September 2023 and it has been a wonderful uplifting experience. I think of myself as a ”Rotarian for Rotarians,” providing life-saving health education virtual presentations to Rotarians in all Eastern and Atlantic time zones in the U.S. and Canada.
I’m also founder and president of the nonprofit Melanoma Education Foundation that was created in 1999 to educate high school wellness teachers and their students about early self-detection and prevention of melanoma skin cancer.
Prior to the Covid pandemic over 1700 schools in all 50 U.S. states and Canada were using our free online lessons, resulting in saved lives of students, teachers and their loved ones.
Most cancers are diseases of aging but melanoma can strike anyone from preteen to elderly. The average age for first diagnosis of melanoma is 65 years. After the pandemic we began searching for ways to educate older individuals. Choosing Rotary clubs as our focus was an easy decision because the “Service Above Self” motto and 4-way test resonated closely with our own member values. Since the start of this program, I have conducted 30-minute presentations for more than 380 clubs. Rotarians provide their services to others without asking anything in return and we embrace the same model. We never request financial or volunteer support from Rotary clubs.
Visit our website at skincheck.org then click on “Rotary Clubs” for more information and quotations from Rotarians after receiving the presentations.