Crush Cancer! : the communication strategy of the Rak'n'Roll Foundation as an example of an alternative form of communicating about health

The goal of this article is an analysis of the function, which NGOs perform in the health system in Poland, as well as their participation in universal-social debate concerning health. The object of this paper, is Communications strategy of the Rak’n’Roll Foundation, one of the Polish NGOs with the highest level of recognition, operating in the sphere of health. On the basis of the author’s own research, she describes the activities undertaken by the Foundation to create and develop mutual relations with the media and analyze how it is represented in the media, as well as the effi cacy of its own means of communication. She raises the question as to whether the communication activities of the “Rak’n’Roll” Foundation aim to improve the health care system (support) or does it rather contribute to an “overloading of the system” (that is a situation where the demands of individuals exceed the ability of the state to act) or perhaps they don’t have any greater signifi cance on an institutional level?