The Love Your Lungs: Sacramento Lung Health Coalition hosted its first Lungapalooza, an outdoor festival to promote lung health, in October at Esther’s Park on Third Avenue near 34th Street in Sacramento.
Lungapalooza featured informational booths mixed with fun activi ties. Free barbecue box lunches, games and raffle prizes, as well as music and fitness sessions added to the festival.
“This first-ever Love Your Lungs in-person event for Sacramento was organized to educate our community about lung health, including the importance of lung cancer screenings as well as the dangers of tobacco use and vaping,” event coordinator Alexandra Gori said. Gori is a coordinator for UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Office of Community Outreach and Engagement, a sponsor of the event.
The festival brought health experts and community members together to also shine a light on the racial disparities seen in lung cancer.
Lung cancer affects Black Americans, particularly Black men, with greater intensity than it does their white counterparts. Statistics show that Black men are 11% more likely than white men to be diagnosed with lung cancer, and 9.8% more Black men die from the disease, according to the Lung Cancer Research Foundation.
