We are so excited to announce that Cervivor School 2019 will be in Chicago, Illinois September 26-28. Cervivor School is a weekend of advocacy training and networking. Cervical cancer survivors will be given the education and tools to become patient advocates on behalf of Cervivor. It is part of our three-pronged approach to advocacy: Cervivor School , Cervivor TV , and Cervivor.org.
What is Cervivor School? Cervivor School is advocacy training. We will have sessions focused on HPV, the HPV vaccine, and cervical cancer education, in order to equip you with the knowledge to be the best advocate possible. These sessions will be led by research scientists, doctors, and experts in the field. In addition, we will hold sessions on story telling as well as legislative advocacy. Cervivor will give you the tools and platform to be a patient advocate for Cervivor, as a Cervivor Ambassador.
Are you a candidate for Cervivor School? At Cervivor we understand that not all cervical cancer survivors will desire to be patient advocates and that is okay. We have a great online support group for cervical cancer survivors called, I’m a Cervivor. We invite all cervical cancer survivors to be a part of this active group for networking and support. However, some women may be at a point in their survivorship where they are ready to take the next step in sharing their story publicly and find that Cervivor is a good fit.
How do I apply? We encourage you to apply for Cervivor School 2019 by using the links below. Once the registration period ends, our leadership team will begin scheduling personal interviews and will then notify applicants if they have been accepted to this year’s school.
Can you believe tomorrow is October 1? We can’t either! We have had such an amazing GCAM that we’re not sure we are ready for it to end! It has been an incredible month of advocacy and awareness here at Cervivor. Our community has been absolutely on fire with everything from table events and Cervivor School, to Capitol Hill meetings. We are so proud of all our Ambassadors have accomplished this month. Check it out!
Sarah at Athena’s Run
Cervivor kicked off Gynecologic Cancer Awareness Month events with Athena’s Run in Winston Salem, North Carolina. Cervivor Ambassador, Sarah Nielsen, generously hosted a table again this year for the expo. She provided their running community with info about cervical cancer prevention, screening, and of course Cervivor! We were also honored to be asked to be part of the Coming Full Circle Health Fair in New York, NY again! We love this event focused on health information and resources for the community in NYC. Ambassador, Vanessa Santiago, hosted a table and represented Cervivor, as she was able to share about HPV and cervical cancer.
Planting seeds year-round for events during awareness months is an important part of advocacy and something our community strives for. Kristine Sprigler has built a wonderful partnership with UPS and this GCAM was asked to host another Cervivor table at the UPS Employee Night Shift Health Fair! What a great way to advocate and get the word out! Paulette Apostolou is another Ambassador who has cultivated a partnership with her care team and area doctors over the years. This month she hosted a table at the University of Chicago for the Gynecologic Cancer Awareness Day for gyn cancer survivors. She has gone from patient to advocate right in her local community!
Kristine (left) on Capitol Hill
GCAM didn’t stop there. When Kristine wasn’t hosting table events she and Cervivor Ambassador Mary Baker were working with partner organizations, American Cancer Society and the Society of Gynecologic Oncology, to advocate for cervical cancer awareness, prevention, and gynecologic cancer research on Capitol Hill. Mary also participated and shared her Cervivor story as part of the Virginia HPV Leadership Summit at VCU. We are so proud! Way to go Mary and Kristine!
We closed out GCAM with a bang at Cervivor School Massachusetts. Our keynote speaker was the dynamic Nancy G. Brinker, founder of Susan G. Komen®. She has dedicated her life’s work to changing the narrative of breast cancer and bringing global awareness to women’s health. She found great inspiration with Cervivor and our stories touched her.
Cervivor School attendees with Nancy Brinker
Other fantastic speakers like Roshanda Pratt, who motivated everyone to find their why, and Dana D’Alessandro Haseotes who talked about our sexual health after cancer. We also met Laura Brennan, our International Cervivor Spotlight from Ireland, who shared how her one voice is making a huge impact in educating her country on the importance of the HPV vaccine. Laura brought her joy, passion and incredible advocacy voice to our weekend. Rounding out the weekend were Chi Bahk who spoke about social media & vaccine confidence, as well as Jennifer Sienko with the National HPV Roundtable who dug deep on how we as advocates can respond with confidence to all things HPV. We began each day with Cervivor Wellness Instructor, Patti Murillo-Casa. Patti gave us a preview of the Survivor Slimdown project and inspired us to begin each day with movement and gratitude. The new attendees found their advocacy groove, new friendships, and left knowing that Cervivor support comes while we are in action. Cervivor is a movement and we are making a difference!
Cervivor School fun!
Cervivor is so thankful for such a productive GCAM. We have just enough time to catch our breath and start planning for CCAM in January! Stay tuned! Please make sure to sign up for our monthly newsletter and follow us on social media, to get the latest and greatest from our Cervivor Community.
