Press Coverage

Part III: Spreading the Word

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the third in a series of articles featured in last year's June and July issues of FRI about the birth and growing pains of a small nonprofit project whose mission is to assist newly diagnosed breast cancer patients. The project, Between Us: A First-Aid Kit for Your Heart and Soul, was folded into Affinityfilms, Inc., an already existing nonprofit film organization. Since the creation of Between Us, founder Mary Katzke, along with other project members, has been searching for corporate sponsorship.

What's New?

The past six months have been a period of slow, steady exposure for the Between Us project. Joining me in full-time work are co-producer Joanne Singer and Affinityfilms' board member Janet Burts. We were invited to screen at Lord and Taylor's department store as part of their Wellness Program and at Planet Hollywood on 57th Street in Manhattan. Film festivals in Colorado, Florida, Rhode Island, and now Brooklyn, New York, (as part of the 20 Year Retrospective of Women Directors) have recognized the video for its artistic merit. I personally took the project on a tour of introductions at hospitals in the Pacific Northwest during October, which was National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. And perhaps most importantly, we were able to implement a pilot project in two major hospitals in Alaska.

On Our Way

In August, the Alaska Run for Women, which was instrumental in granting us original seed money, gave our project $10,000 to provide kits for the next 200 women diagnosed with breast cancer in Alaska. These kits were assembled by volunteers, many of whom are survivors, on the last Sunday in October. Then, they were distributed on a state-wide level to hospitals, radiologists, and doctors, based on the Center for Disease Control's (CDC) prior year's statistics of breast cancer diagnoses.

The first thing we learned is that there are more cases then measured by the CDC. Eager hospital personnel called requesting more kits, stating they were certain they did not have enough to serve their projected patient load for the next year.

The second thing we learned was the double value of having survivors pack these kits. Not only does this save us on labor costs, but it gives the survivor the important feeling of giving back, or "passing the torch" to others, which is so important in their own healing process.

Feedback from medical personnel and patients has been incredibly positive. For instance, one oncology nurse at Humana Hospital in Anchorage, Alaska, said it was, "The first time I felt I actually had something to give to my patient that we both felt good about." Letters are being saved and attached to future funding requests as we move into Hawaii, Washington, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Florida and Oregon.

In October, I drove my car in nearly constant rain from Olympia, Washington, to Brookings, Oregon, stopping at hospitals along the way. I showed the video and introduced the project to eight hospitals, resulting in both video and kit sales. The usual venue was through a support group, attended by one or two nurses or social workers. The professionals were able to see how patients responded to seeing "survivor mentorship" in action. The patients basically "sold" the project by confirming that it achieves it's goal of honest, useful information, and immediate emotional support. As a survivor, the hard part for me personally was seeing so many breast cancer patients every day, knowing that some of these women were not going to survive, and being reminded of my own recent battle with chemotherapy. However, their appreciation for what I am doing outweighs this concern.

The Value of Volunteers

Screenings of the video are helpful to us on a number of levels. As a result of being invited to film festivals, we were forced to create press kits to be sent in advance of the screenings. These press kits include production stills, staff biographies, project description, video synopsis, names of funders, and so forth. They are also helpful to send to hospitals to use their own publicity when planning a Between Us screening event, and to potential sponsors to give them a fuller picture of who we are and what the project is about. An anonymous viewer at the Lord and Taylor screening in New York saw that we were writing referral information on scraps of paper and donated colored business cards to us. Screenings generated press in local and national trade publications. For about two weeks after every screening, we typically receive requests to purchase videos/and or kits.

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When we flew to Juneau, Alaska, for a Women's Health Conference, the First Lady of Alaska, Susan Knowles, invited us for breakfast, telling us how much she valued our work, and that she personally wanted to help us present it to the National Governors' Spouses Organization for potential sponsorship. We look forward to going to Washington, D.C., this month to do just that.

In November, when we were screened at the Rocky Mountain Women's Film Festival in Colorado Springs, Colorado, we received a three-minute standing ovation by an audience of over 200, only 12 of whom were breast cancer survivors. As filmmakers, it is so wonderful to be recognized as artists and professionals, as well as activists with a worthy project. Local audiences become incredible advocates, working behind the scenes to bring Between Us to their own hospitals. Once audience member called after our screening and offered to create a web site for us, which we gratefully accepted.

Learning the Ropes

In our work with hospitals, we have learned another valuable insight; It is far better to work from the care givers and patients on up to the decision makers, than to work from the public relations or marketing department downward. One reason is that the people who have experienced this on an emotional level instantly "get it," while those who are distanced from the personal impact think only in terms of "How much will this cost?" and "What 's in it for the hospital?" These are valid questions, but easier to deal with after the value is established. Typical medical response to the emotional crisis experienced by patients is to prescribe sleeping pills, anti-depressants, and referrals to psychologists. We firmly believe our project is cost saving in the long run - now we have to prove it. We also know that if the hospital wants to incorporate Between Us in their patient care, we can usually find local business support to underwrite their particular hospital.

However, we are still working very hard at our primary goal: To find national sponsorship to a degree that will allow our cost per kit to decrease significantly, and to have a warehouse and staff to meet the growing need for our valuable product, which is currently assembled in hospital cafeterias and our own kitchens.

Next: Reports will be back from national and international outreach efforts; more festivals; results of a pending deal with Blockbuster Video for their community service division; using the web; and exciting additions to our kits, including meditation music based on the Between Us theme song, customized notebooks, and greeting cards featuring the pink ribbon theme.

Written by Mary Katzke, the founder of Between Us and director of Affinityfilms, Inc.

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