Dougherty County joins Emory’s ‘Go Sun’ smart program

Protection from the sun...

ALBANY, Ga. – Dougherty county is partnering with Emory University to help protect members of the public works department from something they see all the time…”the sun.”

It’s known as the ‘Go Sun’ smart program, and it’s meant to study if any possible skin cancers develop in members of the public works department out in the field for most of the day.

Public Works Director, Chuck Mathis believes this will be crucial in detecting skin issues long before they become major problems.

“Many of us don’t realize the fact that with melanoma, everyone is susceptible to it. And it’s maybe not as prevalent in darker skinned people, but we do get it. And as the research says, most times when we notice it, it’s in a stage where it’s not treatable,” said Mathis.

While Emory University will be handling research over a three year period, they’ll also be providing materials to help train the county on how to better protect their employees.

County Administrator, Michael McCoy says that while the county has provided protective equipment in the past, the ‘Go Sun’ smart program will be a major upgrade.

“We haven’t necessarily focused on skin protection, to prevent skin cancer per se. However, this project will give us an opportunity to add that as one of the things that we’re trying to protect our employees against,” said McCoy.

And…in a county where a large portion of the population is darker skinned, having the resources available from Emory is a major boost.

“To have a research project specifically targeting a population that has not historically been considered when discussing skin cancer prevention is an opportunity for us to move in the right direction,” said McCoy.

“To have the coaching, to have the web-based resources, and to have the upfront connection with the scientists and doctors and all, I think it’s going to be a big help for us,” said Mathis.

Over the next couple of years, public works hopes that they’ll have the data needed to help protect against melanoma, and other forms of skin cancers for their public works members.

According to the researchers at Emory, spearheading the ‘Go Sun’ smart project, skin cancer costs the country eight billion dollars a year in treatment costs and time off.

Brian Roche reporting.

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