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Cancer societies merge, form new division
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
The American Cancer Society’s Ohio and Pennsylvania Divisions merged to form the new American Cancer Society East Central Division, effective Sept. 1.
The move allows the two divisions to blend the best of both former entities to create a stronger, more efficient division with greater resources to fight cancer, said Dr. Robert Brodell of Warren, a member of ACS National Board of Directors.
“At the grass-roots level, nothing will change,” said Dr. Brodell, secretary of the new East Central Division’s Board of Directors who was a member of the now- defunct Ohio Division board of directors.
“What we did is decrease the amount of staff at the top of the organization to enable us to spend more of our resources for the mission of helping and advocating for cancer patients and their families and on research,” said Dr. Brodell, chairman emeritus of ACS’s Warren Relay for Life.
“Cutting expenses does not mean cutting at the lower echelon, and I don’t think people at the volunteer level will see in any change,” he said.
Merging does mean sharing ideas, he said. “Pennsylvania is ahead of Ohio in per capita Relay income. We’re anxious to learn some of their techniques. We’ll catch up soon,” he said.
The merger was approved by the volunteer boards of directors of both divisions. Garry Pincock, the former Pennsylvania Division chief executive officer, is CEO of the new entity.
“The timing was right for this merger. With the retirement of Ohio’s CEO last year, it made sense to take this opportunity to bring the two divisions together allowing us to blend staff strengths and knowledge, and to share best practices that support our mission,” said Pincock, who is in the process of selecting a team of senior staff who will work to complete the transition into a new division.
“Above all else, we expect that the communities we serve will soon realize the benefits of this merger – especially access to more resources and training,” he said.
Separately, Ohio and Pennsylvania were the smallest divisions in the country and two of only five divisions that were made up of single states. The combined East Central Division will serve a population of nearly 24 million, making it the seventh- largest of the American Cancer Society’s 12 divisions, said Al Stabilito, Northeast Ohio public relations director.
“This will make us a stronger, more effective organization,” said Pincock. “It will also ensure that every dollar donated makes the most impact in the fight against cancer.”
“With the strengths of the two divisions merged we will be better able to provides services to cancer patients and their families and caregivers and to increase research,” said Donald Jay Bice of Bazetta Township, a member of the new Eastern Division Board.
Bice, chairman of the former Ohio Division, admitted he was at first skeptical about the possibility of a merger. But after putting together a committee to investigate the idea came to think it would make a stronger unit.
“We made sure we provided for lower echelon employees and, at the upper level, no one got hurt. Before the merger, the Ohio Division had gotten as lean as possible. It was the proper thing to do at the time,” Bice said.
The idea of a merger between Ohio and Pennsylvania has been in the works since the downturn in the economy a couple of years ago, Dr. Brodell said.
“We started to think if we are going to move forward in our mission, we needed to look at every penny spent. We’re excited. We think it’s all good,” he said.