They got you covered on Randall’s Island.
Free sunscreen dispensers will be squirting out protective goop on Randall’s Island from Labor Day through November as part of a pilot program intended to reduce the incidence of skin cancer, the Randall’s Island Park Alliance announced Monday.
Randall’s Island Park – the first city park to install the dispensers – will place 25 dispensers apportioning mineral-based SPF 30 sunscreen throughout the park’s 480 acres.
“Over 3.5 million people visit Randall’s Island Park each year and over 700,000 children play sports on our many athletic fields. It is important to make sure that everyone has access to appropriate skin protection,” said Aimee Boden, president of the Randall’s Island Park Alliance and administrator for the park.
The initiative, a joint venture of the Alliance, Bright Guard LLC and the Melanoma Foundation of New England, is intended to help cut the risk of melanoma, which accounts for a tiny percentage of all skin cancers, but is responsible for the vast majority of skin cancer deaths – more than 10,000 a year, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation.
If the pilot program, which follows similar, successful programs in Boston and West Palm Beach, is successful, it will be expanded throughout the park, according to the Alliance.
In June, Comptroller Scott Stringer called for NYC to provide free sunscreen at playgrounds, pools, beaches and parks throughout the city.
