Business leaders from across the state gathered in Atlanta this July for the American Cancer Society’s annual CEOs Against Cancer Executive Circle Meeting — and to launch the Georgia chapter.
Led by Aflac Inc. President Virgil Miller, the top executives came together to discuss ways their organizations can better prevent, detect and treat cancer among employees.
“When leaders come together, you get momentum, you get collaboration, and that’s what helps push a movement forward,” Miller told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Other influential leaders included the presidents of Georgia Power, Atrium Health Navicent and the Morehouse School of Medicine, joining over 300 other top executives who make up the 18 other CEOs Against Cancer chapters nationwide.
The leaders shared strategies to promote wellness and explored ways to reduce cancer’s growing burden on the workplace, alongside exclusive resources and insights provided by the ACS.
“Through CEOs Against Cancer, we’re empowering leaders to drive change in their companies and communities,” said Kimberly Jackson, executive vice president of the ACS Southeast Region, in a news release.
According to the ACS, 83% of employers cite cancer as one of the top three conditions driving health care costs. Seventy-four percent of patients miss work, and 69% miss four weeks of work or more — largely because of doctor’s appointments and treatment-related absences.
For Miller, the decision to work with the ACS was a personal one after losing his mother to colorectal cancer nearly 20 years ago.
“That was during the time that colonoscopies were not part of the wellness screens and now, they are, as a result of the great work, the research, the advocacy that the American Cancer Society has done,” Miller said. “Most people when you bring up the word cancer have a story.”
The ACS has spent decades spreading the importance of wellness screenings and early detection methods, but many people are unfamiliar with the process and what signs to look for. One of the main goals of CEOs Against Cancer is to ensure employees know all of the options available to them.
“We want to make sure we’re out first educating people on the available treatment, what it means to get cancer, what may happen, but then we move to the preventive side,” Miller explained.
Encouraging cancer screenings can have huge benefits for not just their employees health, but the overall health within their organizations.
“One CEO in particular talked about how since being a part of CEOs Against Cancer, they’ve seen a reduction in how much the company is spending on premiums,” Jackson said. “And that’s as a result of screening and encouraging his employees to get screened, but also him leading by example, by sharing when he’s going to the doctor and encouraging his team members to do the same.”
Working with the ACS and the Georgia chapter has also shined a light on the nonphysical components of treating cancer, which Miller has folded into his company.
“We now offer mental health benefits as part of our coverage,” he said.
The ACS has also helped Aflac Inc. with the social element of a cancer diagnosis, providing ways “of helping people to cope with what’s happening,” especially for family members.
“Many times when businesses or leaders see what another corporation, another company or another leader is doing in the community, they’ll follow,” Miller explained. “So we want to lead by example, and have collaboration, not just locally, but going across the United States and demonstrating leadership.”
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