Eagle Air Med Raises The Bar For Breast Cancer Awareness With 2011 Campaign

The Association of Air Medical Services (AAMS) is pleased to honor Eagle Air Med from Blanding, Utah with the 2012 Excellence in Community Service Award. This award is given to an emergency medical transport individual or organization demonstrating broad-based continuing commitment to the communities they serve. Eagle Air Med was selected as this year’s honoree for their 2011 Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign.

Eagle Air Med took on this campaign to educate and draw awareness to breast cancer in their surrounding communities that they served, after its staff had learned about the devastating progression of this cancer ranging from the curable Stage 0 to deadly Stage 4. The team set a high bar for their campaign by creating 4 specific goals:

• Promote further awareness and education of breast cancer itself.
• Improve breast cancer detection.
• Show compassion towards those persons and families afflicted with it.
• Support breast cancer research.

 
Throughout 2011, Eagle Air Med provided financial support, and took an active role in several community events, which were designed to draw awareness to and understanding of breast cancer, as well as provide funding and other resources to breast cancer preventive services and research.

For instance, Utah State University – San Juan organized a Breast Cancer Week where Eagle donated substantial funds, and sponsoring both the breast cancer 5K run and its benefit dinner. Several Eagle Air Med employees also ran the 5K along with members of their community.

A second example, in an effort to promote compassion and awareness to youth, Eagle sponsored the San Juan High School softball team in the “Swing for Life” State-Wide Benefit Tournament in which 100% of proceeds and donations to the tournament were given to Breast Cancer Research. Additionally, Eagle Air Med staff members were in attendance to education tournament participants about breast cancer.

The final project of the campaign was the most individually demanding on each Eagle Air Med employee, and was possibly the most rewarding. Eagle Air Med made a specific challenge to each of its employees: “Make a personal effort/contribution on behalf of breast cancer awareness and reach out to someone whose lives have been affected by breast cancer. It can be something as big as signing up for a benefit walk/marathon or as simple as sending a note of support to someone whose life has been changed by breast cancer.”

The response was overwhelming. Crew members took on a variety of creative and interactive approaches to fulfill this task - from sending personal reminders to family and friends about mammogram testing, to taking on acts of compassion and other additional measures of support for patients currently battling the diseases, to honoring lost love ones through donations to several breast cancer research efforts.  The individual efforts of Eagle Air Med employees and their many stories show immense compassion to family, friends, and communities that have suffered due to breast cancer.

FMI: www.aams.org