Taking action against cancer is a team effort. It requires the participation of state and local government, business owners, employers, and community organizations to raise awareness about the many forms of cancer and help educate the public on the steps they can take to prevent cancer.
Each champion below has played an instrumental role in bringing the Cancer Prevention in Action message to the people of our community. We thank them for their leadership and commitment to taking action against cancer.
Meet the Champions
In remembrance of David Wolmetz, owner of Urban Air Adventure Park: Lake Grove, member of Stony Brook Cancer Center’s advancement council, and co-founder of Block the Sun, Not the Fun annual sun safety family day.
Dave’s personal and professional commitment to cancer prevention shines as bright as the sun. But don’t worry, he always suns safely! Dave’s passion for health and wellness within Long Island’s children’s entertainment industry has driven him to partner with Cancer Prevention in Action for numerous initiatives, including ‘Block the Sun, Not the Fun’. The first annual family friendly sun safety day was held in May 2022 at Smith Haven Mall, Suffolk County with the goal of raising awareness of skin cancer and promoting sun safety to Long Island’s children and families ahead of the summer season. Not only did Dave support this endeavor with his own business, Urban Air Adventure Park of Lake Grove, Dave spread the word to his many contacts in the children’s entertainment industry urging them to join the cause. Thanks to Dave’s tireless efforts, over 1000 children and families were educated about the importance of sun safety and provided free sunscreen and sun safety gear, and five local outdoor children and family destinations have committed to adopt a sun safety policy for their business. While Urban Air is an indoor adventure park, all who pass through its doors are reminded to practice sun safety with sunscreen samples and informational flyers available to all guests. Dave does all of this while fighting his own battle with cancer, taking action to prevent cancer so others do not have to endure the harsh realities of cancer treatment. “If all we do is save one child’s life, this is all worth it.”, says Dave of his cancer prevention efforts.
David Wolmetz passed away on June 9th, 2023. CPiA honors his service and commitment to taking action against cancer in the Lake Grove and Three Villages communities. Dave’s legacy in cancer prevention and awareness will positively impact our community for years to come.
David Wolmetz high fiving Wolfie, Stony Brook University’s Mascot, at first annual ‘Block the Sun, Not the Fun’ sun safety family day.
Colette Coyne, founder of the Colette Coyne Melanoma Awareness Campaign
Colette Coyne has championed for melanoma awareness in the Long Island community since 1998, after the tragic passing of her daughter, Colette Marie Brigid Coyne, who lost her life to melanoma at the age of 30. The Colette Coyne Melanoma Awareness Campaign was founded by Mrs. Coyne, her late husband Patrick, and her family, with the goal of preventing others from experiencing the awful pain of losing a loved one to melanoma. With the help of countless volunteers who have been impacted by Melanoma, the Colette Coyne Melanoma Awareness Campaign remains active in skin cancer prevention. In almost 25 years, this 501(c)(3) has launched numerous prevention programs including but not limited to the “Be Sun Smart” educational programming for schools, free skin cancer screening events, numerous media ads and PSAs, and countless donations of shade, sunscreen, and sun safety gear to local organizations. Ms. Coyne worked tirelessly throughout her career to advocate for legislation restricting indoor tanning. In 2005, the Colette Coyne Skin Cancer Prevention Bill was passed in Nassau County, prohibiting minors from indoor tanning facilities. This was shortly followed by Suffolk County’s Colette Coyne Melanoma Awareness Law, and eventually paved way for the New York State Indoor Tanning Law in 2018, prohibiting minors from indoor tanning facilities statewide. Ms. Coyne continues her work by collaborating with Cancer Prevention in Action on community cancer prevention efforts. The work of Ms. Coyne and the foundation serves as an inspiration to our CPiA team in our mutual goals of reducing skin cancer rates in our community.
Colette Coyne (pictured third from right) honored by Town of North Hempstead for 25 years of dedicate service for the Long Island community.
Pictured from left to right: Cory Eisner, Director of CCMAC; Elaine Phillips Nassau County Comptroller; J. De Sena, Town of North Hempstead Supervisor; Colette Coyne, Founder of CCMAC; Ragini Srivastaza, Town of North Hempstead Town Clerk; and Thomas Coyne, co-founder & director, CCMAC.
Amy Juchatz, MPH, Environmental Toxicologist at Suffolk County Department of Health, and co-chair of the Suffolk County Cancer Prevention and Health Promotion Coalition
Amy Juchatz is a cancer prevention leader in Suffolk County, championing for both skin cancer prevention and Human Papillomavirus (HPV) cancer prevention with our CPiA team. As co-chair of the Suffolk County Dept. Of Health Cancer Prevention and Health Promotion Coalition, Amy brings together voices from Suffolk’s leading public health agencies, hospitals, and community organizations to unite us in our shared goal of cancer prevention. Amy is a true advocate for the CPiA motto; get the facts, reduce the risk, and spread the word. Through the coalition, Suffolk County has access to current and local cancer statistics, evidence-based prevention strategies, and resources for care and education for the prevention of skin cancer, HPV cancers, and numerous other cancers. In addition, Amy and the Department’s Office of Minority Health works diligently to address cancer disparities in Suffolk County by sharing the resources and platform of the coalition to organizations leading the charge to support cancer prevention in Suffolk’s most underserved communities. Amy has joined CPiA in taking action against cancer by providing HPV cancer education and on-site vaccinations for the Hispanic community of Brentwood, developing social media messaging for youth on the dangers of indoor tanning, and creating new and improved websites dedicated to educating the Suffolk County community on prevention of cervical cancer, information and resources for HPV vaccination, prevention of skin cancer, and numerous other cancer prevention topics. We thank Amy Juchatz for her dedication and commitment to cancer prevention for the Suffolk County community!
Maggie Biggane, founder of Mollie’s Fund Melanoma Foundation
Maggie Biggane and her family have championed for melanoma prevention for over two decades. Maggie, and her husband Jack Biggane, founded Mollie’s Fund Melanoma Foundation in 2001 after the tragic passing of their daughter Mollie to melanoma. Mollie was a typical, happy, healthy college sophomore who discovered a mole on her thigh and was diagnosed with melanoma. Mollie underwent surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, ultimately passing away from the disease at age 20. Maggie and Jack created the Mollie’s Fund Melanoma Foundation in her memory to help prevent such a tragedy from impacting other families. Maggie and the Mollie’s Fund team takes action against skin cancer by increasing awareness of melanoma prevention, providing information and services to prevent skin cancer, and support melanoma patients by connecting them to the latest treatments. As a lifelong Nassau County family, Mollie’s Fund actively promotes melanoma awareness and prevention across Long Island, as well as in the NYC metro region and nationwide. Mollie’s Fund takes action against skin cancer through countless programs and services, such as education for youth in schools, organizing screenings for firefighters, donating sunscreen dispensers to schools, parks, beaches, and summer camps, launching media campaigns and aerial PSA’s at Long Island beaches, and many more. Maggie is an active CPiA champion and regularly supports our mission of providing the facts, reducing the risk, and spreading the word in our community. Our CPiA team has partnered with Mollie’s Fund to develop educational curriculums, attend local community education events, exchange needed educational materials, and engage in policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) change work. Most notably, we worked together in 2023 on decision maker education at Stony Brook University Hospital (SBUH), which led to Mollie’s Fund supporting a systems change to ensure that all patients admitted to SBUH receive a full skin assessment (read more here). CPiA continues to partner with Mollie’s Fund to take action against skin cancer in our community.
Visit https://molliesfund.org/ to learn more, or preview their educational materials with this brief video.
