A Light of Hope: The American Cancer Society’s Impact on Cancer Patients and Families

The Feature photo of ACS

About 1,806,590 new instances of cancer will be identified in the US in 2020, with 606,520 people losing their lives to the disease. 

The effects of cancer on American and global civilization are substantial. As per the projected number of new cases in 2020, breast, lung, bronchus, prostate, colon, rectum, skin melanoma, bladder, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, kidney, renal pelvis, endometrial, leukemia, pancreatic, thyroid, and liver cancers are among the most common.

Cancer doesn’t always lead to fatal complications if caught and treated in its early stages. When cancer begins to impact the functioning of vital organs, it poses a severe threat to the patient’s life.

Numerous cancer patients around the world go undiagnosed or untreated because health systems in low and middle-income nations are ill-equipped to handle this surge of patients. Access to early detection, high-quality treatment, and survivorship care contribute to the improved survival rates of various malignancies in nations with robust health systems.

Here, we will talk about the American Cancer Society (ACS) and how people are getting help from them.

What Are The Mottos of Cancer-Prevent Organizations?

The American cancer Society

The mission of the American Cancer Society (ACS) is to end cancer in its current form for all people. They are the foremost organization fighting this disease. Through advocacy, research, and patient support, the American Cancer Society (ACS) and its nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, strive to enhance the lives of cancer patients and their families. Their goal is to guarantee that everyone has a chance to avoid, identify, cure, and overcome cancer. 

Supporting organizations for cancer patients are vital because they provide emotional and practical support to people with the disease. In their fight for universal access to cancer prevention, early detection, effective treatment, and survivorship, these groups are actively involved in research, advocacy, and support for cancer patients and their families. 

They promote healthy lives as a means of preventing cancer, investigate the causes of cancer to develop more effective treatments, and provide support to cancer patients worldwide. Cancer advocacy groups are formidable in getting the word out and bringing public concerns to decision-makers’ attention. These organizations are essential in low- and middle-income countries where funds are scarce, and cancer prevention is not a high priority.

The Current State of Cancer Mortality in the United States

In 2020, there were 1,603,844 new instances of cancer reported in the US, with 602,347 cancer-related deaths. There were 144 cancer-related deaths and 403 new cases per 100,000 individuals. Incidence data are not yet available beyond 2020.

Look no further than the United States Cancer Data (USCS) for official government cancer data. Their origin is in merging cancer registry data from the National Program of Cancer Registries at the CDC with the SEER program at the National Cancer Institute.

The American Cancer Society generates yearly estimates of new cancer cases and deaths in the US by integrating incidence data from central cancer registries with mortality data from the National Center for Health Statistics. 

  • The incidence and consequences of cancer in a given population form the basis of this data. In 2023, the United States is expected to see 1,958,310 new cases of cancer and 609,820 deaths caused by the disease. 
  • There was a 3% annual increase, or an additional 99,000 points, in prostate cancer from 2014 to 2019, following twenty years of decline, even though overall cancer incidence trends were better in men than in women. 
  • Female lung cancer rates decreased at a rate half that of male lung cancer rates (1.1% vs. 2.6% yearly) from 2015 to 2019, whereas rates of breast and uterine corpus tumors stayed high.

Liver cancer and melanoma, on the other hand, steadied in males aged 50 and above but declined in younger men. On the other hand, the incidence of cervical cancer has decreased by 65% from 2012 to 2019 among women in their early twenties, who were the first to receive the HPV vaccine. This suggests that the burden of HPV-associated cancers, the most common kind in women, will be significantly reduced. 

The cancer death rate continued to fall from 2019 to 2020, falling 1.5%. This contributed to a 33% overall drop since 1991 and an estimated 3.8 million lives saved, even though the pandemic was a significant factor. The fast declines in mortality rates (about 2% yearly from 2016 to 2020) for leukemia, melanoma, and kidney cancer, despite stable or growing incidence rates and faster declines for lung cancer, are clear indications that this progress is primarily due to improvements in treatment. 

Breast, prostate, and uterine corpus cancers have the most racial disparities in fatality rates and are also on the rise, which could slow future advances in cancer mortality rates.

Here is the overview and source from Natioanl Cancer Instittute.

Cancer stat in the USA

More people are surviving cancer now that the death rate from the disease has dropped. Although there is still a long way to go, these tendencies indicate that the fight against the disease is making headway. While smoking rates have decreased, other risk factors, including obesity, have risen in the US. Smoking is a leading cause of cancer. Furthermore, cancer rates tend to rise in tandem with the aging of the US population. 

What Are The Service of American Cancer Society (ACS)

The American Cancer Society is one of the largest organizations fighting cancer, and its goal is to get rid of cancer for everyone. To guarantee that everyone has a chance to avoid, identify, cure, and survive cancer, they are the sole group striving to better the lives of cancer patients and their loved ones by activism, research, and patient support.

At every stage, they assist and uplift those battling cancer. They advocate on a federal, state, and local level for expanded access to low-cost health tests and care. Cancer patients and their loved ones can also take advantage of their free, 24/7 hotline, as well as complimentary transportation and housing. Additionally, they back and finance cancer research so that people everywhere can learn more about the disease and its prevention, detection, treatment, and overall survival rates.

Here are some of their product and services- 

  • A Parent’s Guide To Skin Protection – English
  • About Cancer: A Guide for Anyone 
  • About Cancer: A Guide for Anyone – Spanish 
  • After Diagnosis: A Guide for Patients and Families – English
  • After Diagnosis: A Guide for Patients and Families – Spanish
  • Being A Caregiver Tearsheet x 50 – English 
  • Breast Cancer Risk Flyer – English
  • Cancer Facts For Gay & Bisexual Men – English
  • Cancer Facts For Lesbian & Bisexual Women – English
  • Cancer Facts For Men – English
  • Cancer Facts For Women – English
  • Cancer Survivors Network Flyer – English
  • Chemotherapy for Cancer: What it is, How it Helps 
  • Chemotherapy: What it is, How it Helps – Spanish
  • Distress in People with Cancer – English
  • Distress in People with Cancer – Spanish
  • Breast Cancer Support
  • Cancer Survivors Network
  • Reach To Recovery
  • Survivor Stories

There are bunches of more services that they offers to their patient.

products of ACS

In 2022, 81% of resources went to patient assistance, discovery, and advocacy, while 19% went to management, general expenses, and fundraising. The organization impacts over 5,000 communities through millions of volunteers setting strategies and conducting community events. It invested $354 million inpatient support, $166 million in development, and $46 million in advocacy to demonstrate its financial prudence. 

 

The American Cancer Society is the largest non-governmental funder of cancer research funding in the U.S. By reducing cancer disparities, promoting healthy choices, and ensuring access to quality care, the organization’s volunteers have helped reduce the U.S. cancer death rate by 32% since 1991, highlighting its vital role in the fight against cancer. Interested parties can examine governance and finances in the American Cancer Society Annual Report and other publications.

Obstacles that ACS was Facing 

American Cancer Society has a store at Shopify, and many clients take those services from them online. While running the store, they faced some challenges

Time-Consuming Bulk Orders

Customers sometimes want to purchase items in bulk. For instance, they may buy Spanish booklets that introduce the Reach to Recovery program to breast cancer patients contemplating mastectomy or books that describe how women may cope with the physical side effects of cancer, such as wigs and hair loss.

However, Shopify only defaults to allowing bulk orders with back-and-forth work.

They were seeking a solution enabling their customer to order supplies in bulk because, when dealing with delicate issues like cancer, every minute counts, especially for patients and volunteers.

Inventory Management

No matter how charitable ACS is, they are still responsible for placing timely goods orders and ensuring timely delivery. On top of paying their supplier on time, they must serve their client advocacy on time. So, they realized the significance of inventory management after a certain point. They needed a way to limit stock, so they searched Shopify for an inventory management tool that met their needs.

ACS studied and implemented the MultiVariants – Quick Order App for Shopify to overcome these challenges. This app simplified bulk ordering so clients could buy products with one click. It also gave ACS powerful inventory management tools to track stock and delivery capacity.

From Good To Great: The Role Of MultiVariants – Bulk Order App With ACS

The MultiVariants – Bulk Order app simplified bulk orders by allowing users to input the quantity of any item with a single click. It would be easy for ACS to track inventory levels throughout its catalog with real-time tracking. 

ACS saved a lot of time managing orders and inventories with the help of MultiVariants. As a result, if there weren’t any problems with logistics, staff could attend to delicate cancer patients without restrictions.

By resolving challenges with bulk orders and inventories, MultiVariants freed up ACS to concentrate on their vital services for cancer patients and their families. The app’s simplification after annoyance helped ACS save both time and money.

Have a look how MultiVariants helps to save the valuable time of their clients- 

MultiVariants - Bulk Order saves time

Here, we can see that the clients of ACS can order 10 booklets at a time with one click to add to the cart. This saves the time a lot.

However, ACS finds that it aids their inventory management overall. To illustrate the point –

Here, ACS customers must purchase at least 25 booklets to access the add-to-cart feature with this inventory management app for Shopify. The reason is that they have implemented a minimum order quantity feature here, which will assist them in maintaining a steady inventory. The MultiVariants software also allows them to display the in-stock badge, which will aid their client in determining if the product is currently unavailable.

Inventory management with MultiVariants

If you are one of those who want to do provide service like ACS and looking for a solution then this app is for you. Because the MultiVariansts – Bulk Order app will let you help your customers or clients a bit more. 

Bottom Line 

Cancer is a looming threat, but it is not unstoppable. The American Cancer Society and other devoted groups provide strong arguments in favor of early detection and well-funded healthcare systems.

We are getting closer to a world where cancer is no longer a death sentence, but rather a struggle that is addressed with empathy, understanding, and a shared determination to conquer, as new information and treatment choices are made available through research and awareness campaigns.

Get MultiVariants from Shopify App Store