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&Iucation, .service and fun d r
The Canadian Cancer
Society was established
in 1937 at the suggestion
of the Canadian Medical
Association. Its initial
purpose was -- the
education of the general
public `with. regard to
cancer.
Its aims are now three-
fold: Education in order
that the disease may be
prevented, or diagnosed
and treated in its earliest
stages; Service to Cancer
Patients; and Fund
Raising to support these
two programmes but
primarily to support
Research into the cause
and cure ofcthe disease. •
The Canadian Cancer
Society is a national
organization governed by
a Board of Directors
which include.
representation from each
province in Canada as
well as from allied health
organizations.
The Ontario Division is
one of the ten provincial
Divisions , of the Cancer
Society. The• Division is
governed by a Board of
Directors made up---of-40--
-members-at-large, one
member' from each
District and Unit, and
members• from allied
health organizations
within the province. The
Division operates
through Standing
Committees that direct
all activities of the
Society.
In Ontario, fifteen
Districts have been
organized to co-ordinate
the work between the
Division and the Units,
Branches and Sections,
that carry out the work of
the Society at the com-
munity level. The
Districts also function
through Standing
Commitees .on Cam-
paign, Commemoration
Funds, Education,
Medical Advisory,
Planning, Development
and Nominating,
Publicity, and Service to
Patients, that act in an
•
oc'el
advisory capacity.
Membership on •these
Committeesis made up of
the respective Unit
Committee Chairmen.
The Unit is basically
the level at which the
major portion of the work
of the Society • is carried
out. There are more than
one hundred Units in
Ontario. The structure of
the Unit is patterned
after that of the District
and the Division, with a
governing Board of
Directors and similar
Standing Commitees.
Many of these Com-
mittees are broken down
stili- further into- eon-
venorships.
Branches are located in
smaller centres and each
is part of a Unit. Ontario
has approximately two
hundred and fifty
Branches, that are fully
organized with a Board of
Directors and Standing
Committees on Cam-
•
programme through an
annual grant.
FINANCING OF
THE SOCIETY
Receipts and . disbur-
sements at all levels of
the Cancer ;6,Sopiety in
Ontario are handled
through a Rotating
Imprest Accounting
System, by means of
which all accounting,
preparation of
statements, and auditing
are done at Division
Office.
All funds received by a
Unit„ from any source,
are placed -in a Transfer
Account and
automatically tran-
sferred by the bank in-
volved to the central bank
of the Ontario Division. In
similar fashion, Branch
funds should flow directly
into the Unit Transfer
Account.
paign, Education and Units and Branches
Service to Patients. then operate on an ad -
Sections are composed vance, which is placed in
of one fir more a separate "Working
representatives-. of- the "Fund" accbtirtt:The units
Cancer Society in com- are reimbursed from
munities where there are Ontario Division for their
not enough people to expenditures on a con -
warrant a more formal tinuous basis up to a set
structure. They form a. amount.
direct part of the Unit or
Branch with which they All bequests to the
are affiliated. Cancer 'Society . are
handled through Ontario
Division with the
guidance of its Solicitors.
All salaried staff
throughout the province
are paid from Division
Office. This creates a
working force large
enough to be eligible for
staff benefits such as
insurance and pension.
GENERAL.
COMMENTS
CANCER RESEARCH
Over half of•the funds
raised by. the Cancer
Society are used for
direct support of
research into the cause
and cure of cancer.
Eighty-five percent of the
funds spent by.,the
National Cancer Institute
of Canada are provided
by the Canadian Cancer
Society — an amount of
over $6.5 million a year.
The Ontario Division of
the Cancer Society also
assists the Ontario
Cancer Treatment and
Research Foundation in
its clinic •extension
The chain of command
for efficient functioning
of the • Society is from
National to Division to
District to Unit, Branch
and Section.
Mel Farnsworth, president of the Goderich Branch of the Canadian Cancer
Society and Howard Aitken, publicity chairman for the Huron Unit of the
--Canadian-Canter-Soeletyli-proadly-display last-ys--speei-al-cancer-editInn----
entitled Hope. The edition is aptly named because it gives hope that with
more research dollars, cancer can someday be beaten. (Photo by Joanne
Buchanan)
tnree_
The Society has , very
definite rules and,
regulations, ander -which
0
it operates. However, it cancer -patient.
remains flexible enough
to be of real service to the
Cancer like fever?
"We have evidence that
cancer in birds, animals
and fish may be caused
by one of, many tumor
viruses, usually touched
off by secondary causes
such as chemicals,
radiation, secondary
infections or a breakdown
of the immune system. I
think this is true of
human cancer as well."
That's -...the -opi-nion--of--possib-tein:_'reiatron'to-the-
cancer problem,
Rose Sheinin believes
that a cancer-causing,
virus can lie dormant in a
person for years or all his
life until, or unless, it is
"triggered" by some
outside factor. She 'feels
these factors are prin-
cipally chemical
pollutants in "what we
wear, what we eat, and in
the air we breathe" an
that governments are lax
Th "`com-batting s'ticfifi.
pollution.
Dr. Sheinin. "It does not
kill the cell in which it
grows as do the non -
tumor viruses."
She goes on to explain
that many of the scien-
tists in the forefront of
cell biology today are not
studying cancer per se,
but because they are
doing perhaps the most
important research
Dr. Rose Sheintn, a
grantee of the National
Cancer Institute of
Canada, whose research
funds come from public
donations to the Canadian
Cancer Society.
Dr. Sheinin, Chairman
of the Department of
Microbiology and
Parasitology at the
University of Toronto,
receives her NCIC grant
for "Studies of the
Mechanisms-- of--Action-of-
Tumor Viruses".
She says there has been
some -, success in
preventing a certain type
' of cancer in laboratory
mice' by the use of an
experimental vaccine but
she does not see the day
in which one .vaccine will
be • given to everyone to
prevent the occurrence of
cancer. "And yet," she
continues, "it's entirely
possible that there is
some single underlying
process that could be
attacked in all cancers.
"In the 19th Century,
and before, people
treated fev.er as a
disease. Today we know
that fever is a symptom
of many diseases. Maybe
cancer is like fever, a
common response to a
very wide assortm.ent of
derangements of the
cell."
She goes on to explain
that there are at least ten
different kinds of tumor
viruses: as different as,
say, a gazelle and a
cockroach. Within each of
these ten classes, there.
are .thousands of in-
dividual viruses different
enough to be told apart.
'On the surface • a
' cancer virus resembles
other viruses but for
.- some reason ..it acts.......
differently. We un-
derstand how it acts but
we still don't know why it
acts that way," says the
Toronto -born in-
vestigator.
. "We know enough
about the viruses to, be
able todescribe them in
greater detail than any
other organism on earth,
yet there is a basic
question about viruses:
Are they alive? A virus is
an extremely good
manager of the
multiplying machine of
its host cell. And if you
consider anything that
can direct its own
multiplication as being
alive, then a virus is
alive.
vruscannot_.-.
grow by itself - it requires
a cell in which to thrive.
And a tumor virus is the
supremeparasite," says
+-I-+
A campaign is now
being developed by the
Canadian Cancer Society
to' interest more young
people in joining the
various units and
branches across the
country.
+++
Cancer research at
Princess Margaret
Hospital in Toronto is
going full steam ahead.
Get ready
to give to
the
Canadian
Cancer
Society,
Huron Unit
This informative publication Is brought to you
with the kind co,operation of the following
McCALLUM
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