Letters to the Editor
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‘Now Comes the Lawsuit’
New York City’s subway hero, Wesley Autrey, has continued to selflessly serve others and this month volunteered to appear as the spokesperson for the city’s public hospitals’ Colon Cancer awareness campaign to encourage fellow New Yorkers who are over 50 years old to get checked for colon cancer [New York, “Now Comes the Lawsuit: Subway Hero Goes to Court, Saying He Was Betrayed,” March 27, 2007].
Mr. Autrey was not paid. He has acted out of a sincere willingness to do good and save even more lives from this preventable form of cancer. Print advertisement featuring Mr. Autrey and his daughters will appear on subway platforms this week. And his public service message will be heard on popular radio stations urging other New Yorkers to be heroes too by staying healthy and getting screened. The campaign can be viewed on our Web site, nyc.gov/hhc.
More importantly, Mr. Autrey recognized that colon cancer disproportionately impacts black men. He had his own colonoscopy test performed at Harlem Hospital Center. At our press conference held there, Mr. Autrey’s sincerity was best captured when he said, “I’m very happy to get this message out about colon cancer to maybe help save more lives — and I don’t have to jump onto the subway tracks to do it.”
RAMANATHAN RAJU
Corporate chief medical director
Medical & Professional Affairs
New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation
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