Pink Fire Trucks Visit Monarch

Designed to rally support for community members affected by cancer, pink fire trucks and police cars visited Chesterfield last week as part of Pink Heals’ national tour. Pink Heals visits cities around the nation to bring people together to care for those battling cancer and help local organizations raise money.

At Monarch Fire Protection District Headquarters, I was able to meet Pink Heals volunteers and see the pink fire trucks signed by people from around the US in support of cancer patients. Friends of Monarch announced a donation to Gateway to Hope in conjunction with the event. Gateway to Hope offers medical, financial, and emotional care to uninsured or underinsured breast cancer patients at no cost.

Pink Heals was founded by Dave Graybill, a former professional athlete and firefighter, because he saw the need for an organization that would keep donated dollars in local communities and focus on supporting people, rather than causes.  Volunteers with Pink Heals and the pink vehicles spend up to 18 days on the road at a time, and the tours are funded entirely through sales of the organization’s merchandise. While Pink Heals’ trucks will deliver donations to local charities, they refuse to accept money for their organization.

The Missouri legislature passed several bills this session to expand treatment options for cancer patients and help women detect breast cancer as early as possible. Senate Bill 668 requires insurance companies to establish financial parity for oral and intravenous chemotherapies so patients whose doctors recommend oral chemotherapy will be able to obtain the medication affordably. House Bill 1685 allows terminally ill patients under the care of licensed doctors to access investigational drugs that have passed basic safety tests. The full FDA approval process can take as long as a decade, and many of these patients cannot wait that long to try a promising new treatment.

Senate Bill 639, which I carried in the House, requires mammography facilities to notify patients that dense breast tissue can hide abnormalities and that patients with dense breast tissue may benefit from additional screenings. Dense breast tissue is a common but largely unknown condition, and this legislation will help women make better informed decisions about their health.

These measures will greatly benefit patients in Missouri, but community support is also critical and cannot be replicated through government services. I commend Pink Heals for its mission to care for cancer patients in every community and for reminding us that we all have to fight for those fighting this disease.