As survivors who have been there and experienced cancer personally, NCCS knows that quality cancer care doesn’t just happen — it takes advocacy.Advocacy is speaking out on issues of that you care about; that is, offering your opinion and suggestions for how to improve something to the people who are in control. As NCCS defines advocacy, it takes place on a continuum and it can take many forms and occur at many levels including personal advocacy, advocacy for others, and advocacy in the public interest.
Advocacy is at the very core of our mission. NCCS advocates in the public interest for survivors of all types of cancer. As part of that effort, we engage a nationwide network of grassroots advocates to demonstrate the strength of numbers in support of our ideas and to put a human face on the issues we tackle. The voice of the survivor is the most powerful tool NCCS holds in its mission to improve care for the nearly 12 million people in the U.S. who live with cancer.
We fight for system-wide change at the federal level — based on the very best evidence — on how the nation researches, finances, and delivers quality cancer care. We make these changes this in several ways: In the policy world, we work with the cancer advocacy community and government, regulatory agencies, and industry to create and support policies that improve cancer care quality.
And we help survivors speak up for themselves. Survivors speak from experience. Survivors, their loved ones, and their caregivers know that we need to find ways to address all the complicated questions and issues that accompany a cancer diagnosis. For them it is personal, and they bring to it extraordinary passion and dedication. That is why NCCS brings together survivor-advocates, along with other cancer advocates — researchers, healthcare providers, and social justice advocates — to advocate for the highest standards of quality care. Together, we and our grassroots network work with lawmakers, insurance companies, researchers, biotech industries, and the patient advocacy community to pose creative, evidence-based solutions to the problems faced by survivors to make that path easier for each generation.
