PB PERS Florida Cancer Specialists Foundation

Talked with Dr. Daniel Spitz, MD, FACP. Florida Cancer Specialists. The doctors saw a patient need for help in paying bills (such as rent, car, utilities, etc) during their treatments. They pitched in and created Florida Cancer Specialists Foundation, http://foundation.flcancer.com/. They also cover the cost of the staff so that 100% of donations go towards helping cancer patients in need. The foundation is hosting several funding raising events in October/November (Wine, Women & Shoes) across the state. Listeners can find details on their website/Facebook Page. Dr. Spitz also talked about cancer, treatments, prevention tips and clinical trials. There are a wide variety of treatments and with new technology/medication, they are customized to each individual patient to provide them the best outcome. Prevention tips include: No Smoking, limit alcohol, prepare foods to avoid carcinogens, exercise, de-stress, do mammograms, prostate exams, colonoscopies, HPV vaccine, etc.. Listeners should talk with their healthcare provider about these. FCS does offer clinical trials. There are three types of trials: phase 1, 2, and 3. In phase 1, meds are new, patients are monitored very closely (the benefit of this type is that patients can get access to meds earlier before they reach the marketplace), phase 2 is looking at a specific question about a medication and then phase 3 looks to see if the new med is better than the current standard of care. Patients always receive standard of care during the trials. Listeners can find them on their website: https://flcancer.com/en/your-care/clinical-trials/ They can also make donations to the foundation or sign up to volunteer at the website.