good morning. this is "news 4 your sunday." hello. i'm pat lawson muse. every year thousands of people living wit lung cancer join family, friends and advocates to walk and run and volunteer to raise money and awareness about research, education, support and services that can be lifesaving. on sunday, november 4th,th sands will take part in the longevity breathe deep d. walk to help fight lung cancer. joining us today to talk about the disease and the walk are dr. benjamin levy, clinical director of medical oncology for johns hopkins, sydney kimmel cancernd center rebecca bull is chief thelopment officer for longevity foundation. welcome to both of you. >> thank you. >> dr. levy, statistics show the lung cancer death rate has been

steadily ldeclining,est rate in 40 years. that's the good news. it's not the whole picture, is it? >> no. i think we have a lot of work cut out for us.f 70% patients with lung cancer present with advanced stage disease. at that point we talk about treating patients and not curing them. fortunately we have new therapies that are helping. >> the leading c cause ofcer related deaths? >> yes, more than breast, colon andan prostater combined. >> tell us what's working and what is driving the rate down. >> a lot of it is the newer therapies coming out. we have a better understandi of tumor biology and giving drugs that work. but alsoly e detection where surgery can be offered and patients can be cured has probably contributed to this trend. >> rebecca, we know raising awareness is a critical tool. you've been holding this walk for nearly a decade now. at makes this wal so special? >> the walk is special because it is truly the first time many

of our lung cancer survivors come out a meet other people who have been diagnosed with cancer. we hear time and time again that they're overwhelmed by the number of peoe that come out to show their support of lung cancer. they don't feel that on a daily basis. wheneo you get 1500e on the mall, they not only see it, they can feel it. >> support and strength in numbers. >> there is support and strength in numbers. weear stories over and over from our survivors to caregiverm andy members how much hope they get from attending our breathe deep ae vent. >> dr. levy, i think most people associate smoking with lung cancer. how often does it strike non-smokers? >> surprising statistics. 20% ofs patiehat are lung cancer patients are never smokers. 50% t 60% of lung cancer patients are either never smokers or former smokers.

this is truly non-smoking or past smoking disease. >> we're not just talking abo people, when you say folks who don't smoke or who used to smoke who are getting lung cancer. t just talking about people smoke? to second-hand >> that's correct. these are patients who have never touched a cigaretter been exposed to second-hand smoke in the past. >> what do we know about what causes of lung cancer are? if it's not smoke, what is it? >> clely the leading cause is smoking. the other causes include second-han smoke. patients who grew up in homes where there was smoking. and interestingly radon is another environmental cause. we're trying to understand the link between radon and smoking, but it's certainly one in the literature is known to cause lung cancer. >> there isn't a whole lot of publicne awa about that or education -- >> no, there's not. >> and we're not encouraging people to test. it's in the dirt under most

people's homes. >> yes. some people have asked should i get my home tested for radon? i'm not ready to make that assessment. it is not a bad idea. it is a known cause of lung cancer. >> orebecca, one the things that you hope to accomplish with the walk and with your ydvocacy alr long is to stress the importance of early detection. lung cancer, is it curable? >> it is curable. if you detect it early enough, lung cancer, once you see it, we can treat itnd you can be cured. but the trick is that we have to find it ely enough. >> and you were justreelling me behe camera began rolling that t cases you're getting of people finding out they have it, even at the early stages, are sometimes just mind blowing, generally by accident. accident. when i talk with the survivors as i'm out in the community and hear their stories about how

they were diagnosed, you'rere ly blown away because it is done by acendent. most ry i was talking to a survivor who an airlinend att. she went to reach to get a bag down, it hiter in the head. she was rushed to the hospital. lo and behold he was diagnosed withung cancer i talked to a grandmother not too long ago, she took her grandson in for a pneumonia diagnosis, and they decided to give her an x-ray. she went toau the hospital b they were concerned about lung cancer. so they're finding it early by accident. we would like to turn the table on that and find it early on purpose. >> we're talng about lung cancer and longevity. the breathe deep d.c. walk k.ming up next sunday. we'll be right b this isn't an election.

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we're talking about lungevity and the breathe deep d.c. walk comi up on theth of november. i want to talk a little more about lung cancer, dr. levy. we know% of lung cancer patients diagnosed have never smoked. if you talk to patients who have smoked, who should get screened? >> there are screening modalities similar to breast cancer and colon cancer, smoking roughly a pack a day for 30 ears and have quit -- still smoking or quit less than 15 years ago. if you meet that criteria, y should tal to your primary care physician about the role of cat scans to pick this up early. >> you told me, also, most people have junk in their slunges. doct and insurance companies

don't want people running out askingor cat scans. if you fit into that category, it's a good idea. what about someone who did quit 15 years ago? >> i think there's still questions about who should be screened at this time. i think -- my recommendation would be to have a discussion with your primary care physician. understand when they do cat scans, you are going to pick up hi some things that aren't cancer and thoses may have to be followed to ensure they're not cancer. we have goodvidence that screening saves lives and reduces mortality. covered. the cat scans are covered? >> if you meet the criteria, it's cered byinsurance, yes. >> how much are you doing to raise awarenessbout that? a lot of people don't know. >> well, we raise awareness all year long. one of the main ways we do that are through our breathe deep walks tt are hosted, as you said earlier, next sunday in d.av we them hosted across the country. we need to get the word out how

important it is, to understand lung cancer, thats i more common than people think and to really ask for tse diagnostic tests so they can have early detection. >> you said earlier that many people who come to you have bee diagnosed by accident, and then there are people who get diagnosed at late stages after it's maybe not so easy to cure em. but is it still curable if it's at stage three or four? >> i think we're witnessing an unprecedted time in lung cancer with targeted therapies and immunotherapves that we t seen before, a surge of great drugs for patients that are less toxic and lead to betternd outcomes, hopefully we can begin to shape the this,tive that we do treat even at stage three or four, particularly stage four, as a chronic t'disease, and t really predicated on all these newer therapies that aren't chemotherapy. >> and what are some o the newer -- >> i think the two big classes

of therapies that have been integrated into our treatment paradigm have been targeted therapies. these are oral pills that generally go after the genomic underpinnings, and a drug that turnsen the pas own immune system against the cancer. again, these drugs are less toxic, they lead to better outcomes and we are seeing some patients bng treated as a chronic disease based on the value and efficacy of these drugs. rebecca, the walk takes place on sunday. tell us when and where and about registration. >> registration -- you can register on site o the day the walk. we're at the smithsonian metro stop. you c still register online up until next sunday. at lungevity.org/dc. the program will kick off about

10:15. we're looking forward to hosting a lot of people. we have b teamsy fund-raising right now and competing against who is going to raise the highesllar. it's fun to go to the website to check out and see wherehey are. >> doug kammerer, our own weather guy will be hhere. is the biggest attraction for our walk. people love coming out to see doug. he makes the walk special. we appreciate him. >> thank you so much for lifesaving information. >> tha you. >> all right. that's dr. benjamin levy and rebecca bull w l be back in just a moment to talk about domestic violence, how ao stop it how to help survivors. stay with us.

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policy director for the d.c. coalition against domestic violence. for being with us. >> yes. >> tell us about the coalition and who makes it up. >> every state and territo the country has a domestic violence coalition, and what that coalition does, it's made up of the direct service providers providing services to survivors of domestic violence. so here in d.c. there are 16 member programs members of the d.c. coalition against domestic violence. >> talking about shelters, housing oviders, everyone who helps someo who is dealing with domestic violence, whoo would go them for help. >> exactly. shelters,in couns organizations, legal service providers, case management, exactly. >> how do all the organizations that you're working with in the direct work together? how does thatpp ? >> that's sort of the role of the d.c. coalition. we'r convening all the direct service providers so there's a steady flow and sort of thread

hat allows communication to occur between service providers so that they understand what each other is doing, how they can work in collaboration with one another so that there's a concerted efft and coordinated effort to the needs of survivors. >> is therein tg to facilitate all this? >> absoluly. e d.c. coalition provides a 40-hour domestic violence training. anyone who is working in a domestic violence agency has to go through that training so they understand the dynamics of domestic violence, what the role of power and control playsn abusive relationships, what are the resources, what are trauma informed survivorentered response. those are the pieces we provide ng on. >> on wednesday morning you're going to be issuing a report districtow the responds to and supports survivors. how did you put that report card together t >> one of tngs we know is

there aren't near enough to suppor the domesti violence-specific agencies, to meet the needs of all the survivors here in d.c. oftentimes the shelter,c domes violence shelter and housing organizations are past capacity. they don'tpa have anymore to house anyone else. oftentimes, for example, if rvivor is fleeing an abusive relationship and there's no space in a domestic violence organization, they may reach oup to thetment of human services and look for housing and homeless se.vices th so what we wanted to know,rl simi in other government agencies, how well are staff informed to someone expiciencing domeiolence reaching out for assistance. we identified 22 different district agencies that w felt most often would be tapped by survivors who may be looking for assistance. it could be that they -- so the police department, for example, oftentimes the police arein

lved in domestic violence situations, how are they responding? welso sent a survey to the d.c. council because we know survivors may reach to the council member's office saying i don't know what to do, can you helpme. what we wanted to do is guess a baseline of information around which of these agencies have a policy that guides and directs staff about how they respond when someone asks for lp. >> so the report card comes out on wednesday. can you give us a preview? what did you find? >> i will say there's a consistent response across the district. there's work that needs to be done, but i will say that we're encouraged that the mayor's office seems open to partnering with us to help improve the response from the district agencies. o >> we know, course, sexual assault has been in the news a lot lately and we've heard the mayor and other city leaders

talk about agencies being able to adequatelyespond when there are complaints or cases that fall under their jurisdiction. do most city ancies have sufficient policies in place and resources to respond to domestic violence? >> so i think that is a great question. the reason why is there are a whole pan nall pi of survivors across the district and the country addressing the needs of people who need assistance, substance use,exual assault, domestic violence. oftentimes there aren' resources to support those organizations. that's one of the reasons we wanted to do the report card, because we know folks are reaching out to these other government agenciur. we know leaders are interested in being able to say they're responding well to the needs of d.c. tsidents. we w to be able to support

th t to ensuret that's true. >> we're talking about domestic violence and talking with the c. coalition against domestic violence. we'll continue right after this.

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violence, and i'm speakingith dawn dalton of the d.c. coalition against domestic violence. wn, what are some of the resources available to those dealing with thi situation in this city? >> there are a number of resources that are available. one of the things we mentioned t earlier,re's shelter programs and longer-term housint programs t meet the needs of domestic violence survivors. what i mean by that when i s that is when we're working with survivors, we're alwaysab thinkg t what is the safety plan that's needed for this moment? that could be this moment that's lasting a we s, a momentthat's lasting a month or a year or what have you. sometimes that changes quickly.

the domestic violence organizations herind.c. are always cognizant of what -- how a survivo might want to be prepared should their abusi ex-partner reach back out to them. what we know about domestic violence ishat it is an imbalance of power and control in a relati oship. and o the ways that i often talk about domestiviolence is, when someone flee, we know that's a more dangerous time for that survivor. cause what i say is they've upped the ante in tms of they are taking some power back in the relationship and making a decision that i better for them,nd the person that is the abusive partner doesn't like that. that's not the paradigm that they've worked out in that relationship or that has been forced on that relationship. so oftentimes that violence and that abuse will escalate. so that's what makes it a more dangerous time. so for the domestic violence service providers, they're

always cognizant of this and workingh consistently w survivors to be thoughtful about what that means for them. every survivor knows their situation best. there's no cookie cutter sponse that's going to work for everyone because we're all individuals and we all have our own complexities. you asked me about services. so there's shelter and housin there's the domestic violence intake center. there's one in southeast at the united medical center as well as at the courthouse down onor indianawest where there are court advocates and legal service providersvailable for survivors seeking to go through the court process and get protection order, file for civil or criminal matters related to domestic violence. there's counseling and case management services here in the district. >> there's a phone number we'ree putting oncreen that people can call. >> the d.c. victimha hotline is available for domestic violence survivors as well as sexual assault.

other victims of crime. if you are someone in need of resources andic se 866-989-8376 can link you to the resources and provide you information that you would need. >> i tnk it's helpful maybe to remind people about they best for families and friends, neighbors, anyone w cares, to step up, step in and try to intervene when there's a situation available. >> i think this can be an overwhelming thing for a supportive person to know how to say something, should they say something, what is the best thin to do. i always respond with it's important if you care about that person. reu need to intervene and let them know t a lifeline there. you may not agree with some decisions that that survivor is making, but if that survivor feels like they have support in you and that you're there as

somebody that believes them, that can be a lifeline that when therson is ready to leave, it canake such a difference in the world, whether they end up reaching back out to that person, they know somebody believed whatoi was on. >> it's important to know that domestic violence isn always physical. >> absolutely. oftentimes -- if there was a relationship that started out being physically abusive, no one would stay. it's the emotional abuse thatst ts, the mental abuse, and it escalates over etime. whhat abuse is going on, it's insidious,reecause t positive connections going on as well. it escalates over time. oftentimes survivors will say, i just woke up one day and i thought, how did i get here? let's back that up and figure out how to create a diffent pathway to safety for you. >> there are paths tosafety. the number again 866-989-8376.

that's the d.c. hotline. thank you so much dawn dalton of the d.c.li con of domestic violence. thank you for being with us. nbc4 has an ongoing domestic violence awareness project. you can fin stories by searching safe at home atnb ashington.com. to see other editions for news 4 yosunday, search community. i'm pat lawson muse. thanks for watchin

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