Cancer is the number one killer of city residents, officials say.
The crusade recently drew attention from Vice President Al Gore, who proposed a similar time-off program for federal employees. Besides giving city workers time off for cancer screening, the city also gives sun block to summertime workers in the park and traffic departments as protection against skin cancer. It also hands out vouchers to cancer victims for free taxi rides to and from chemotherapy treatments. Menino and city health officials said the key to reaching residents most at risk for cancer is to get into the poorest neighborhoods. And so they dispatched the Mammogram Van, a 40-foot mobile home that contains a miniature health clinic aimed at catching breast cancer in its earliest stages.