Fran Drescher -- Actress, Healthcare Activist and 'Hometown Girl' -- to Keynote North Shore-LIJ's Cancer Survivors' Day on June 2
Lake Success, NY (Vocus) May 7, 2007 -- Queens native Fran Drescher, a star of stage, screen and television, and the author of The New York Times' best-seller Cancer Schmancer, is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at a June 2 Cancer Survivors' Day celebration hosted by North Shore University Hospital and LIJ Medical Center at the Monter Cancer Center in Lake Success. Attendance at the event is by invitation only.
Born in Flushing, NY, Ms. Drescher is best known for her role in the CBS TV show The Nanny (1993-99), but in recent years she has become an outspoken advocate for women's health after being diagnosed with cancer in 2000. In Cancer Schmancer, Ms. Drescher wrote about her experiences with the healthcare system during her ultimately triumphant battle against uterine cancer, which earned her a writer's award from the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship.
On June 21, 2007, the day that marks the summer solstice and her seventh anniversary of wellness, Ms. Drescher is scheduled to announce the national launch of the Cancer Schmancer Movement, a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that all women's cancers be diagnosed while in stage one, when the disease is most curable. Ms. Drescher's advocacy helped lead to the Congressional passage of the Gynecologic Cancer Education and Awareness Act, also known as Johanna's Law.
The June 2 event marks the first time that North Shore University Hospital and LIJ Medical Center have combined their annual Cancer Survivors' Day celebrations. The venue for this year's event is the Monter Cancer Center, part of the North Shore-LIJ Health System's 450,000-square-foot Center for Advanced Medicine, located at 450 Lakeville Road in Lake Success. Opened in April 2006, the Monter Cancer Center provides ambulatory cancer services in a calming atmosphere complete with indoor gardens and three 120-foot-long skylights. The $17 million, 37,000-square-foot center includes 32 chemotherapy stations furnished with plasma-screen televisions, and 23 examination and consultation rooms. Other features include social work and support services, nutrition counseling, a bone marrow-stem cell transplant program, a patient education center, a café and a conference room with high-tech teleconferencing abilities.
"At the Monter Cancer Center, our patients are treated in a modern, comfortable outpatient environment that promotes healing and dignity," said Michael Dowling, president and chief executive officer of the North Shore-LIJ Health System, who will also speak at the June 2 event. "Its convenient location and outstanding clinical expertise eliminate any reason for patients on Long Island or in Queens to commute to Manhattan for treatment; the best cancer care is just a short car or bus ride away."
About North Shore-LIJ
The nation's third largest, non-profit, secular healthcare system, the North Shore-LIJ Health System cares for people of all ages throughout Long Island, Queens and Staten Island - a service area encompassing more than five million people. The health system includes 15 hospitals, 11 long-term care facilities, a medical research institute, four trauma centers, five home health agencies and dozens of outpatient centers. North Shore-LIJ facilities house more than 8,600 beds, and are staffed by over 8,000 physicians, 10,500 nurses and a total workforce of about 37,000 -- the largest employer on Long Island and the ninth largest in New York City. For more information go to www.northshorelij.com.
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