Free Lifesavers: Avalon Combats Skin Cancer With Sunscreen Dispensers

“Wear sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it,” wrote Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich in June 1992.

Schmich briefly mentioned sunscreen’s benefits before dispensing witty words of wisdom about life in her “Everybody’s Free to Wear Sunscreen” column, one written as a hypothetical commencement speech. “Wear Sunscreen” grew to be an Internet sensation.

Today, Schmich’s advice is taken literally here in Avalon and elsewhere.

The Borough of Avalon, in partnership with the Richard David Kann (RDK) Melanoma Foundation, placed sunscreen application dispensers in two of the town’s busier locations. These bright yellow, touch-free sunscreen distributors provide free SPF 30 sunscreen for those who wish to take a handful and apply it. Dispensers can be found near the Avalon Beach Tag Booth at 30th Street by the beach and at the 39th Street playground. They serve as a reminder of the serious damage that can be done by the sun’s ultraviolet rays and as a means of skin-cancer prevention.

The RDK Melanoma Foundation is an educational organization that originated in Miami and is now based in West Palm Beach. It was founded by Deborah Kann Schwarzberg in memory of her brother, Richard, who died of melanoma in 1996. Schwarzberg promised Richard and her family that she would do everything in her power to raise awareness about melanoma, says Rita Fox, RDK’s director of operations. Ever since then, “it has been the family’s mission to save lives,” Fox adds.

For more than 20 years, RDK’s representatives have been educating students, teachers and administrators about the importance of applying sunscreen while having fun in the sun.

RDK’s sunscreen application dispenser RAY Project is a more recent initiative. Dispensers can be found in various South Florida, Pennsylvania and now New Jersey locations. Avalon is the first community in the Garden State to install RDK sunscreen application dispensers. There might be more, thanks to one former baseball superstar.

Phillies Hall of Famer and melanoma survivor, Mike Schmidt, is an enthusiastic RDK team member and advocate for its RAY Project. Last year, Schmidt was instrumental in working with the Phillies, the City of Philadelphia, Independence Blue Cross and others in having RDK sunscreen dispensers installed at key locations in Citizens Bank Park, on Philadelphia’s Boathouse Row and in Philadelphia City Hall’s courtyard.

Schmidt’s advocacy also led to installation of sunscreen application dispensers here in Avalon, says resident Elyse Focht. Focht, who is president of the Seven Mile Beach Democratic Club and a member of the Avalon Historical Association, the Avalon Civic Club and The Wetlands Institute, is also a lifelong Phillies fan. She grew up in the shadow of Philadelphia’s historic Connie Mack Stadium. So watching a televised Phillies game one Sunday in April came naturally. It just happened to be “Mike Schmidt RDK Melanoma Awareness Day” at the ballpark. And Schmidt made his case for installing sunscreen dispensers to prevent skin cancer.

Focht was inspired by Schmidt’s words about RMK’s skin-cancer prevention program, she says. So, the next day, she contacted Scott Wahl, Avalon’s business administrator and public information officer, about possibly placing sunscreen dispensers in town.

Molly McDonnell, Elyse Focht and Scott Wahl pose with one of Avalon’s new sunscreen dispenser in front of Community Hall.

“Scott got right on it,” Focht says. “By Memorial Day, he had it in place.”

Wahl notes his appreciation for the support he received for the sunscreen dispenser project from Focht, Mayor Martin Pagliughi and Borough Council members. The borough purchased its application dispensers, which arrived filled with sunscreen, from the RMK Foundation. Avalon taxpayers will cover the costs of keeping the containers filled with sunscreen. “This is a win-win for the borough and our visitors, one that provides low investment and huge dividends,” Wahl says. A full dispenser provides some 4,000 squirts of sunscreen. Dispensers will be checked and maintained by the Department of Recreation.

“In Avalon, we educate our emp-loyees who are outside for an extended period of time – beach patrol, public works, recreation – about the importance of using sunscreen,” says Wahl. “These bright yellow dispensers are hard to miss and serve as an important reminder.”

Avalon’s timing for offering free sunscreen could not be better.

Rates of melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer, have been rising in the past 30 years, reports the American Cancer Society. The ACS estimates that approximately 91,270 new melanomas will be diagnosed, 55,150 in men and 36,120 in women, in 2018. An estimated 9,320 people will die of melanoma: 5,990 men and 3,330 women.

Literature from the American Aca-demy of Dermatology cites higher risk factors, including: fair skin, skin that burns or freckles, blond or red hair, blue or green eyes, more than 50 moles, moles that are irregularly shaped or darker, use of indoor tanning devices and more.

“Although melanoma is more common in those with light-colored skin, people with skin of color also get melanoma,” the AAD warns in its guidelines. It can develop on normal skin or on an existing mole. Melanoma can also develop under fingernails or toenails.

A careful check of existing moles, as well as thorough examination of new moles, is critical in skin-cancer detection, according to the AAD. That’s because when detected and treated in its early stages, melanoma’s cure rate is 100 percent.

As keys to prevention, the American Academy of Dermatology offers its “ABCDEs of Melanoma Detection” to apply in detecting early signs of melanoma during self-examinations. While examining one’s skin, one should look for signs of change in “asymmetry, border, color, diameter and evolution” in moles or skin growths.

It’s time to see a dermatologist when moles or skin growths are: not asymmetric in that one-half does not look like the other half, or their borders are irregular, scalloped or poorly defined, or their colors vary in shades of tan and brown, black and sometimes white, red or blue or they differ from one spot to another, or their diameter is more than 6 millimeters (the size of a pencil eraser), or there’s evolution in that a growth or mole looks different from others or is changing in size, shape or color.

With so many voices offering so much information today, one must be selective in accepting tips on anything, especially survival, and applying them to our lives. Some voices are more prophetic than others. Schmich had it right decades ago when she penned “Everybody’s Free to Wear Sunscreen.” In her closing words, Schmich wrote:

“Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.

“But trust me on the sunscreen.”