San Francisco, CA (UroToday.com) -- The prostate cancer community will have a new patient-centric powerhouse in its corner with the coming merger of ZERO – The End of Prostate Cancer and Us TOO International. The unification of these two leading prostate cancer organizations will provide a new comprehensive support system for prostate cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers. In addition, the merged entity will increase prostate cancer awareness and advance research and access to care through a united advocacy platform.
The coming together of these two organizations comes at an urgent time in the fight against prostate cancer with nearly 250,000 men who will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year alone. Additionally, every fifteen minutes a man will die from this disease.
“The merging of ZERO and Us TOO will provide critical and necessary resources and support to more prostate cancer patients, survivors, and families than ever before,” said Jamie Bearse, ZERO CEO and President. “By combining our respective prostate cancer services into a single, stronger, and streamlined organization, we’ll have significantly more impact nationwide. This is a massive win for our cause and community.”This year, ZERO and Us TOO are celebrating their 25 and 30-year anniversaries respectively; giving the cause a combined 55 years of experience serving the prostate cancer community. ZERO and Us TOO come to this union from positions of financial and operational strength and share the same mission to educate and support men and their families while taking steps to end prostate cancer. Both organizations have deep and substantial relationships and reach within urology practices, cancer centers, and medical professionals across the country. With complementary efforts, the organizations have successfully partnered over the past decades on numerous educational, support, and advocacy programs to help patients and their families. Having one unified organization as the leading resource for the prostate cancer community also helps the medical community to better serve their patients.
“There is no doubt we will be stronger together as one organization. The unification of staff, boards, partners, volunteers, and assets will be a powerful platform to reach more men at risk of prostate cancer and support more patients and families in crisis who need resources to fight this disease,” said Marty Chakoian, Us TOO Board Chair.
Marrying ZERO’s established patient support programs and chapter infrastructure with Us TOO’s more than 200 volunteer-led Support Groups across the country will equip prostate cancer patients and families with a greater array of support including case management services, transportation, and local support resources.
Additionally, the fusion of both ZERO and Us TOO’s education initiatives will make a stronger and more comprehensive curriculum with expansive outreach to inform patients on important issues including ever-developing treatment options, early detection and active surveillance, diagnostics, survivorship, and emotional and physical well-being.
A major priority for both organizations is to eliminate the racial disparities in prostate cancer. Black men are 1.8 times more likely to get the disease and 2.2 times more likely to die from the disease than white men. Joining forces will bring an enhanced effort to address these health equity issues including unequal access to care, lack of representation in medical research, unaddressed cultural barriers, and more.
The Board of Directors at both organizations have signed a letter of intent to merge the two prostate cancer nonprofits by the end of September, which is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. The combined organization will operate under ZERO’s name, 501(c)3 designation, brand, logo, and website while the Us TOO name and assets will remain in place for the support group program which includes more than 200 support groups across North America. As ZERO and Us TOO work to complete the merger, each organization’s respective scheduled slate of events will continue, including ZERO’s upcoming Racial Disparities Symposium and Run/Walks, Us TOO’s SEA Blue Walk, virtual support groups meetings, regular educational webinars, and more.
Source: ZERO - The End of Prostate Cancer. 2021. BREAKING NEWS: ZERO — The End of Prostate Cancer and Us TOO International to Merge to Better Serve the Prostate Cancer Community | ZERO - The End of Prostate Cancer.