Sun Smart Tips

During 1993–1997, Colorado's incidence rate for melanoma was 31% higher than the overall U.S. rate. Exposure to the sun's ultraviolet (UV) rays appears to be the most important risk factor in the development of skin cancer; therefore, when sun protection measures are used consistently, skin cancer is largely preventable. A Colorado public education campaign that included the brochure "Sun Smart Tips" was launched in June 2001. This campaign resulted from a unique partnership between the state health department's Comprehensive Cancer Prevention and Control Program and Mesa Verde National Park, which has about 600,000 visitors annually. National park officials educated Colorado residents, as well as visitors from all over the world, about the steps they can take to be safer in the sun. In addition to park staff handing out thousands of brochures at the park entrance gates, the rangers incorporated "Sun Smart Tips" into their regularly scheduled talks, which are held frequently throughout the year.

The goal of this campaign was to educate park visitors about the need to protect themselves from the damaging rays of the sun and how best to prevent skin cancer.

This project was so well received that plans are under way to make the skin cancer brochures and information available at Colorado's highway visitors' centers. Thousands of travelers can potentially be reached with important sun safety messages. This effort also underscores the added value of coordinated partnerships to disseminate consumer-oriented information on cancer prevention.