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June 27, San Marcos, TX: Shopping and Screening |
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  It was another hot and steamy Texas day! Today we were at the Prime Outlets in San Marcos, TX, the third largest outlet shopping destination in the world. This place was great. Our screenings were scheduled to start when the mall opened at 10 AM, but by 9:15, we had a line.
Our helper from the mall security team was called Tank! |
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June 25 and 26, Houston, TX: It was 105°F! |
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  Even though it was so hot, our guests were very patient and just grateful for the opportunity to get screened. We had people travel to see us from all over the greater Houston area, some from up to two hours away!
The site coordinators were extremely hospitable — they brought out chairs so people could sit down, put up extra tents for shade, and even had a fan so people could get some air. Thank you! What an amazing team. |
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June 24, Cypress, TX: A Lot of Findings! |
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Gabriels Garcia, PA and
Lisa Dempsey Hitchens, MD |
 It was a record high of 101 degrees today and people were more concerned than ever about protecting their skin! Many people requested info about our stops for the rest of the week and said they plan to attend another day.
Lisa Dempsey Hitchins, MD, performed 17 exams, and found 10 suspected actinic keratoses (precancers) and seven suspected basal cell carcinomas! |
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June 19-20, Midlothian, TX: At the DFW Summer Balloon Classic |
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  We stopped at the second annual DFW Summer Balloon Classic to perform skin exams, give out some much-needed sunscreen samples, and (of course!) watch the balloons! Over 40,000 people were expected at the “aviation extravaganza”.
One father, on receiving some sunscreen, said: “Thank heavens you all are here. My wife will kill me if I bring my daughter home sunburned.” |
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June 7, Littleton, CO: We worked fast! |
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 The doctors were fabulous, they said they were going to try to move as fast as possible so nobody would have to be turned away. In three hours they were able to see 56 patients!
One of the dermatologists, Tina Suneja, MD, said Colorado has one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the country. Doctors found six suspected basal cell carcinomas, and one suspected melanoma. |
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June 6, Lakewood, CO: We had a great turnout |
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  When we arrived an hour before the event, there was already a line of 10 people and we knew it was going to be a busy day! When the doctor arrived at 12:00, there were 15 people waiting, and by 12:15 there were over 20. … Denver is full of really nice people!
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June 4, Aurora, CO: What a crazy day! |
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 The hydraulics on the RV had a short, and the RV could not be driven until a mechanic disconnected the system! Susan went ahead with brochures, samples, and forms, and met Dr. Poggioli at Rite Aid. Fortunately, the RV was repaired quickly and we were able to screen more than 50 people, and find two suspected melanomas.
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| George J. Poggioli, MD |
Our dermatologist, George J. Poggioli, MD, was fabulous! While waiting for the van, he met with patients and answered questions. That really helped us out; we were very appreciative of his willingness to be resourceful and work things out along the way. He is an awesome person!
We kept hearing comments from people who traveled up to 250 miles (!!) to get to the event. Colorado appears to be a very needy market and it should be a must for next year! |
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June 3, Boulder, CO: We Screened 50 People |
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May 27, Oakbrook, IL: There was a line of people waiting for us first thing in the morning! |
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May 26, Huntley, IL: Another very busy day… |
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Vic Khanna, MD and
Kay Preshlock, RN, MS |
 In the first screening of the day at Centegra Health Fitness Center, Vic Khanna, MD, found a suspected melanoma. He said, “Wow, this made the whole day worthwhile.” He later found six other possible melanomas. One lady actually had three spots on her!
In the beginning it was a little chaotic, but after the first hour everything settled down and ran smoothly. We were so busy that Kay Preshlock, RN, MS, set up another screening area with changing rooms inside the Health Center. |
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May 23, Napierville, IL: It was opening day at the beach where the screenings were held. |
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Dr. Te-Shao Hsu
and AVEENO rep
Melissa Adaya
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Interview with
Dr. Laura Collins |
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It was very busy at Centennial Beach, and fortunately, we had lots of help.
Te-Shao (Jeff) Hsu, MD, one of the volunteer dermatologists here, told us, “Our practice really picks up this time of year. We have lots of ‘snowbirds’ who spend the winter in Florida, and when they come back to Illinois they’ve been lying in the sun for five months. They almost always have to have something removed. I always yell at them and tell them to have fun in the sun but wear sunscreen, but they just don’t get it.” |
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May 21, Livonia, MI: This day was great |
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Dr. Meena Moossavi
and Dr. David Pegous |
The doctors doing the screenings were husband and wife. Both had incredible personalities and were lots of fun.
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Dr. Fedoronko and
Dr. Misra-Higgins in
Troy, Michigan |
We found two suspected melanomas! One of the cases was a pregnant woman who didn’t want to do a full screening but the doctor convinced her, and found the potential melanoma on her belly. |
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May 19, Sterling Heights, MI was great |
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| Haleigh Fairbanks |
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Dr. Louise Martin MD
and Haleigh Fairbanks |
We were joined by Miss Teen St. Clair Shores, Haleigh Fairbanks, and her mother, melanoma survivor Deborah Saint Amand. Haleigh is passionate about sun protection and wherever she goes, she constantly strives to educate other teens about skin cancer, the importance of sun protection, and not using tanning beds. She was great, and everyone was impressed—she’s only 15!
People were very positive and upbeat about us being here. They had lots of questions about areas of concern. We did end up finding quite a number of suspicious lesions. |
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May 15 and 16, Parma and Strongville, OH |
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May 15 was a gorgeous day in Parma, OH!
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| Dr. Garcia and Dr. Keiler |
Dr. Garcia, who performed screenings here, is a Mohs surgeon. He told us there are fewer than 200 of them in the whole country. It was interesting to learn a little more about the procedure. Sue, the [Rite Aid] store manager, remembered last year’s the event, and was thrilled to have us again. She said she had received lots of phone calls all week!
While speaking with people at the Strongsville, OH screening on May 16, it quickly became very evident that the economy in this area is very depressed and for many, proper health care is a struggle. Many people were very appreciative of the opportunity to have a free skin cancer screening. One person commented, “Thank you so much for doing this, I have been going to a dermatologist annually but lost my job eight months ago. Without you all here, I would have never been able to afford to be screened this year. Thank you, thank you!” |
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We had two busy days on the Jersey shore |
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| Dr. Victor, Spring Lake |
We had two busy days on the Jersey shore… May 7 was a rainy day in Spring Lake. People in this area are desperate for a dermatologist. They were all very appreciative of our service and loved the doctor. On May 9, in Neptune, NJ, we heard several people say they’ve seen our public service announcements in magazines. It was pretty busy; the doctor was great. Things went very smoothly and we enjoyed working with her.
A young girl and her boyfriend were sitting in the waiting room and when she learned it was time for her exam – she started to take her clothes off in the waiting room! Fortunately, it was a slow day and they were the only ones in the waiting area. When dealing with the public, I guess you never know what’s going to happen next! |
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May 4 - Today was our official “launch”, in Pershing Square |
 May 4: Today was our official “launch”, in Pershing Square, New York City! As I was sitting on a stump having a quick lunch prior to the event, a girl came up to me and offered me free AVEENO sunscreen! Evidently there was a street team out this day! By launch time, the RV was full of food, drinks, cables, monitors, people, and purses as far as the eye could see. While all of this is going on, we started to get a line of people that wanted a screening. It was a bit chaotic! |
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May 3 - We arrived at the Today Show in New York City |
  May 3: We arrived at the Today Show in New York City’s Rockefeller Plaza at around 4:30 AM. There was a very cute set-up waiting for us with flowers and tons of Today Show logos. We had a very easy time parking, and we stayed with the RV until 8:30 when the segment started. Betty Wong from Fitness magazine spoke about the tour to Today. Then Dr. Downie and Jenna, the Today Show’s host, went behind closed doors and taped Jenna’s skin exam. They said that today’s screening would be part of another segment that will be shown in two weeks—and that Jenna’s results will be revealed then. Two other doctors came to conduct skin exams, and some of the Today Show crew members got screenings. |
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In Atlanta at our first Rite Aid stops, April 17-19 |
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| Dr. Lihn Tran |
We enjoyed meeting all of the doctors and people who came by for screenings and information. A truck driver stopped by-- he had never noticed how much darker the skin was on his left arm than his right.
Dr. Forney mentioned that she frequently finds melanomas on the left side of the body on people who spend a great deal of time driving. People don’t realize that the sun’s rays are harmful through a window. She was very interested in Solar Gard®’s window film, and wished more people knew about it. When applied to car or truck windows, it provides protection from the sun. |
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April 14, Jacksonville, FL: Batten Down the Hatches |
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  On Tuesday, April 14, we made it to the Jacksonville Pier in 45 MPH gusts of wind and horrible rain. Christie got the RV parked and we decided to wait out the storm. After an hour, things cleared and we were open for screenings.
What a difference a day makes! A beautiful sunny day in Jacksonville with lots of beach activity. Many of Jacksonville’s employees work outside, especially by the beach, and they stopped by for a screening. We gave out lots of samples as people headed to the beach.
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Surf’s Up at the Ron Jon Surf Shop in Cocoa Beach, April 11 |
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 Surf’s Up! On Saturday, April 11 we were at the Ron Jon Surf Shop in Cocoa Beach; it’s open 24/7, 365 days a year. It was their 45th Annual Easter Surf Festival, so there was lots of activity.
 
Check out the cool sign they made for us! |
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Drs. John Steinbaugh and Shawn Allen were on hand to screen patients … one of whom drove over 500 miles to come get screened! He was from outside of Topeka, KS. He told me, “Well, I went on your website and this is the closest you were going to be to me so I figured this is where I would come.” … WOW! People really do love to come see us.
