Community Grantee the American Indian Cancer Foundation hosts a Powwow on cancer prevention & early detection.

In recognition of National Minority Cancer Week, the Prevent Cancer Foundation is spotlighting our 2012 Community Grant Recipients who have made an impact in reducing cancer disparities with their innovative community-level programs. The Foundation’s Community Grants program supports organizations across the U.S. that focus on helping to prevent cancer or detect it early. Over the past six years the program has provided the resources needed to fund several projects that help improve cancer screening access, awareness and prevention education to Hispanics, African Americans, Alaska Natives and American Indians. The Foundation has supported many culturally appropriate activities and education at barbershops, powwows, health fairs, churches, sporting venues and through peer-to-peer outreach in order to reach ethnically, racially and medically underserved populations.

Learn how our Community Grants help address the tremendous cancer inequalities by providing funds and resources that help underserved communities Stop Cancer Before it Starts!:

• Powwow for Hope: Dancing for Life, Love & Hope. With support from the Prevent Cancer Foundation, the American Indian Cancer Foundation hosted their annual Powwow for Hope that brought together several tribal nations across the Midwest to honor cancer survivors and increase awareness and education among American Indian families.
  

  Women’s Resource Center, a Community Grantee, provides free screenings to low-income women w/ a mammogram mobile unit.

• Women’s Resource Center (WRC). Leveraging the Foundation grant along with community volunteers, the WRC was able to eliminate barriers to quality health care for many women of the Fort Collins, CO community. The WRC was able to provide at-risk and low-income women with free mammograms, cancer patient navigators and wellness education.
• Play it Sun Safe, Utah! With this education outreach, the Utah Department of Health’s Cancer Control Program aimed to educate coaches, youth and parents participating in local recreation soccer leagues on the dangers of the sun and the need for sun safety in order to reduce skin cancer risk. This Foundation funded grant project continues to provide skin cancer awareness outreach to many ethnic and low-income families in Utah.

The 2013 Community Grants program is now open and the application deadline is Friday April 19th, 2013. Click here to learn more about the Community Grants and read about previous grantees from across the country and their valuable cancer prevention and early detection projects.

Virginia Cancer Network’s Colon Cancer Free Zone educational materials.

The Virginia Cancer Network’s Colon Cancer Free Zone project will educate Eastern Shore worksites about the importance of colorectal cancer screenings and living a healthier lifestyle through good nutrition and physical fitness. Run by four hardworking individuals, the project includes three interactive worksite sessions. In addition to group exercise and healthy cooking demonstrations, the participants will be given colorectal cancer educational materials and educated about screening and their employee health benefits. Previously completed Colon Cancer Free Zones have strengthened many corporate wellness programs in Virginia by introducing new wellness activities and incentives such as walking trails, walking competitions, weight loss programs and group exercises during the day, in addition to promoting cancer screening.

Second-place winner Wyoming Cancer Resource Services aims to increase colorectal cancer awareness and screening by distributing educational materials about lifestyle changes and cancer prevention and early detection. The group will receive a $1,500 grant and will partner with a local surgeon to discuss screening and colon health on the radio and at a food pantry, along with other events. The St. Regis Mohawk Tribe in Hogansburg, NY, won third place for their Community Wellness Day activities focused on health promotion and increasing knowledge about cancer risk factors and screening. They aim to use fun ways to educate the community and ultimately reduce colon cancer mortality on their reservation.

“There were 10 great Challenge groups for this year’s competition, all focused on making a difference in their communities in creative ways. The Foundation is proud to support the valuable colorectal cancer projects of the 2013 Challenge,” said Erica Childs Warner, Director of Evaluation and Outreach. All three winners will receive recognition on the Prevent Cancer blog, the Screening Saves website and in Prevent Cancer’s online and print newsletters.

Colorectal cancer is preventable, yet over 142,000 people are expected to be diagnosed with the disease in 2013. The Prevent Cancer Foundation realizes the importance of screening and awareness programs on the local level and created the National Challenge as a way to champion “grass-roots” community projects. To learn more about colorectal cancer visit screeningsaves.org or click here.

While you’re on the site, please take advantage of our other features:

Share Your Story

The Foundation knows that cancer touches many lives: consider submitting a story to share about how it has touched yours.

Learn About Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the US for men and women combined. Visit the site to learn about colorectal cancer prevention, risk factors and screening options.

Our Community

Interact online with individuals interested in colorectal cancer screening across the country. Discuss new ideas, learn about screening efforts in other states and share experiences.

Thanks to everyone that joined the Screening Saves community, to all of this year’s applicants and our sponsors Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Genentech. The 2013 National Challenge may be over but we look forward to hearing from you about your personal experiences, questions and comments about colorectal cancer screening and awareness!

The Foundation is proud to help Alloro fulfill their mission of helping breast cancer survivors “recapture the joy” both emotionally and financially. Twenty-five percent of the profits will go toward breast cancer prevention research and educational programs that target underserved women.

Alloro co-founders Christine Irvin & Laurel Kamen. (photo coutesy of allorocollection.com)

The idea for this collection was born when founder and breast cancer survivor Laurel Kamen was about to undergo a double mastectomy. On the evening before her surgery, Kamen discovered that sophisticated clothing was not available to women recovering from breast cancer treatment. Kamen then recruited her friend Christine Irvin, an artist and Wall Street veteran, and her cousin Roedean Landeaux, a New York City couturier, to help her create a fashion line that would help women with breast cancer feel good about themselves, despite the physical toll of surgery, chemotherapy or radiation.

Inspired by Kamen’s own breast cancer experience, co-founders Kamen and Irvin were determined to use Alloro as a way to help other women. Alloro chose to partner with the Prevent Cancer Foundation in order to support efforts in breast cancer prevention and research for underserved women. Alloro was impressed with the outreach programs developed and supported by the Foundation, including the GW Mammovan, a mobile mammogram unit that provides free breast cancer screening to underserved Hispanic and African-American women.

“The Prevent Cancer Foundation is proud to partner with Alloro,” said President and Founder Carolyn Aldigé. “Breast cancer is a cruel disease; it affects millions of women worldwide who must face physical, psychological and financial challenges related to breast cancer and its treatments. We are pleased to team up with Alloro in this effort.”

The Alloro Collection is available online at www.allorocollection.com and at the upcoming Alloro Collection Trunk Show in Manhattan on April 17 & 18 from 11 a.m. – 8 p.m at the Jim Villa Designers Agent Showroom, 263 11th Avenue, 4th floor, NYC.

Watch Alloro Collection Founders Laurel Kamen and Christine Irvin’s interview with WUSA-9 Morning Anchor and Prevent Cancer Foundation Sustaining Board Member Andrea Roane.

Colorectal cancer is preventable, yet over 142,000 people are expected to be diagnosed with the disease in 2013. The Prevent Cancer Foundation realizes the importance of screening and awareness programs on the local level and created the National Challenge as a way to champion grassroots community projects.

Voting ends March 29 and is followed by a review of the applications. The winners will be announced April 9. All individuals who vote will receive a “Preventable, Treatable, Beatable” Buddy Bracelet and a Blue Star pin.

All Challenge applicants will receive educational resources and an electronic media toolkit to help promote their projects. To become eligible for the Challenge prizes, each applicant must also fulfill a community engagement requirement. The first-place winner will receive a $3,000 grant for their project, a Prevent Cancer Super Colon™ community stop ($10,000 value), a feature on the Prevent Cancer blog, an article in the Cancer PreventionWorks newsletter, and will be highlighted on the Screening Saves Lives website. To read more about the selection process, the community engagement requirement and prizes for second-place ($1,500 grant) and third-place ($500), see the Guidelines.

The Screening Saves Lives website – www.screeningsaves.org – is the home base for the Challenge where you can join Our Community, learn more about colorectal cancer, post stories and vote for the 2013 challenge entries.

Don’t miss the opportunity to discuss and share information about colorectal cancer and to support grassroots community organizations that are involved daily in colorectal cancer education and screening efforts.

For more information about the National Challenge or if you have any question contact Erica Childs Warner, Director, Outreach and Evaluation, at echilds@preventcancer.org. 

The purpose of the National Challenge is to champion “grass-roots” community projects in colorectal cancer screening and awareness and to engage participating organizations in an online community supportive of colorectal cancer screening efforts across the country. Past projects have included a dodge ball tournament, community health fairs and races to raise awareness of colorectal cancer prevention and early detection.

Applications are due March 5, 2013 and community engagement activity must be completed by March 29, 2013. For more information on project requirements, including eligibility and selection, view the Guidelines and Application.

Bring the Prevent Cancer Super Colon exhibit to your community by entering the 2013 National Challenge

• FREE colorectal cancer resources for ALL applicants.
• ALL individuals who VOTE will receive a “Preventable, Treatable, Beatable” Buddy Bracelet and a Blue Star pin.

The FIRST Prize Winner receives a $3,000 grant to support the winner’s community screening or awareness project, a Prevent Cancer Super Colon™ exhibit stop in the winner’s community ($10,000 value), a feature on the Prevent Cancer blog, an article in the Cancer PreventionWorks newsletter and acknowledgement on the Screening Saves Lives website. The Guidelines cover all prize information, including second-place ($1,500 grant) and third-place ($500 grant) prizes.

The Screening Saves Lives website – www.screeningsaves.org – is the home base for the competition where individuals can join Our Community, learn more about colorectal cancer, post stories and vote for the 2013 challenge entries.

Send questions to Erica Childs Warner, Director, Outreach and Evaluation, at echilds@preventcancer.org.

The Utah Cancer Control Program (UCCP) works to decrease cancer incidence and mortality throughout Utah, with an emphasis on cancers that can be prevented or detected in early stages. The program also provides support for Utah’s community cancer coalition, the Utah Cancer Action Network.

“Play It Sun Safe, Utah!” materials teach soccer coaches & players to enjoy fun in the sun safely!

Utah consistently has one of the highest melanoma incidence rates in the country. There are many reasons for this, including its largely fair-skinned population, high altitude and outdoor lifestyle.

“Just a few serious sunburns can increase a child’s risk of skin cancer later in life,” said Kristi Smith, health program specialist for the Utah Department of Health. “By teaching sun safety at an early age, children can develop lifelong habits that help prevent skin cancer.”

In 2012, the UCCP received a Prevent Cancer Foundation community grant to begin a new project called “Play It Sun Safe, Utah!” The project closely followed Preventing Skin Cancer: Education and Policy Approaches in Outdoor Recreation Settings found in The Community Guide (a resource from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for evidence-based program recommendations about what works to improve public health). The “Play it Sun Safe, Utah!” aimed to educate coaches, youth, and parents participating in local recreation soccer leagues on the dangers of the sun and the need for sun safety. There are two main components of the project:

1. A sun safety reminder that included sun safety tips with a picture of the project spokesperson, Chris Wingert, a professional soccer player for Real Salt Lake.
2. A training manual which provided coaches with information on the need for sun safety along with short lessons to use with their team.

The project was implemented in three soccer leagues in 2012. A total of 139 teams with 1,566 children received project materials, and an additional 300 children received the sun safety reminders. Children who returned surveys that they completed with their parents were entered into a prize drawing.

Following the project work with the soccer leagues, the UCCP made the educational materials available to local health departments statewide for implementation with their local recreation soccer programs. As a result, over 2,000 additional Utah children are expected to receive materials that will help them enjoy fun in the sun safely and reduce their risk of developing skin cancer.

Facilitators work with Campeonas to share messages of breast cancer prevention with DC Latinas

The Campeonas program was developed by a bilingual and bicultural team then pilot-tested among Latinas in Washington D.C. The purpose of this outreach is to address Latina health disparities in the U.S. where mammography rates are lower for Hispanic women than for non-Hispanic white women. The program provides training for Latinas who are interested in sharing their own breast cancer screening experiences with friends and family in order to encourage them to get regular screenings. It also offers free-standing community-level materials: the novela entitled Un encuentro oportuno: conversando sobre el cáncer de seno (“A Timely Encounter: Talking about Breast Cancer”) uses pictures and conversation between friends to share information about breast cancer screening.

The easy-to-use, step-by-step Campeonas training guide and free-standing community-level materials are now available in Spanish or English to community health organizations and can be downloaded for FREE on the Foundation’s website www.campeonas.org.

We encourage you to visit our website where you’ll find fresh, exciting and culturally appropriate resources to help increase awareness and screening among Latinas in your community.

Special thanks to the National Capital Area Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure for its support of the Campeonas project.

The facilitator’s guide has step-by-step instructions for diverse activities as well as all necessary forms, sample tests and FAQs to make it easy to implement the activities with groups of young women in any setting. Using this educational tool you can implement breast health sessions with basic information about breast cancer and screening, myths and facts, and the importance of advocating for one’s health.

The interactive activities and the target audience make these materials unique. As a St. Louis health educator put it, “the interactive group activities are a valuable resource and an effective teaching tool.”

The guide has been shared with groups from across the country. For more information and to download our guide visit our website.

The grant funded by the Prevent Cancer Foundation helps the WRC provide more preventive services and outreach in Fort Collins. A study by the Trust for America’s Health estimates that an annual investment of $10 per Coloradan in community-based prevention initiatives could save more than $232 million annually in health care costs after five years — a $5.05 return for every $1 invested.

With this grant, the WRC aimed to provide a full spectrum of cancer services, including free or affordable screening checkups, diagnostic procedures and cancer treatments. Leveraging the Foundation grant along with 486 hours of volunteer time – equal to twelve 40-hour work weeks, the WRC was able to eliminate barriers to quality health care for many women of the community. Upon receiving the Foundation’s Community Grant, the WRC was successful at:

• Providing free mammograms for 391 women.
• Navigating 118 women through diagnosis and/or treatment options for breast or gynecological cancers.
• Educating 217 women in women’s health workshops.
• Engaging 1,416 women in face-to-face conversations about women’s health issues at health fairs.

Of the women that received services, approximately 98 percent were low-income.

WRC staff members Karla & Jen at a homeless health fair in Ft. Collins, CO.

The WRC continues to empower more community members with the guiding principle, health doesn’t start in health care facilities — it begins wherever we “live, work, play and pray.” The WRC focuses its energy on reaching out to women in correctional centers, homeless shelters, domestic violence safe houses, food banks, rec centers, work sites, shopping centers and church basements. This community-based prevention approach provides an opportunity to connect with these women in their everyday environment where they can easily receive cancer prevention education and early detection screenings.

The grant allowed WRC to personally impact the health of our community as shown through the story of Helen, one of our attendees.  Helen visited one of WRC’s in-home workshops at her sister’s house. Helen, her sister, and two friends hadn’t had mammograms in years, so all four carpooled to a mobile mammogram van hosted by the WRC. Helen received an abnormal result on her screening mammogram. A WRC patient navigator documented her financial need and arranged an ultrasound and biopsy at no cost. Transportation was a barrier for Helen, so WRC provided gas vouchers to travel 130 miles for her care. Helen’s results showed there was no evidence of cancer and she was given a referral to follow up in six months.

Patient Skye McKenzie is thankful for her mammogram service as she believes WRC helped diagnose cancer just before it spread beyond her breasts. Skye expressed her immense gratitude to WRC, “I want supporters of the Women’s Resource Center to know that prevention and early detection of cancer is not just a hypothetical idea. I am alive today because generous people donated to WRC. Thank you.”

These success stories were made possible by the Prevent Cancer Foundation and the Women’s Resource Center.

For more information on the Women’s Resource Center in Fort Collins, CO visit http://www.womens-resource.org/

Read more about the 2012 grantees and previous grant awards.

Q: What is considered adolescent and young adult cancer?

A: The definition of the adolescent and young adult cancer patient has evolved over time and recently has been defined as those diagnosed with cancer at ages 15 through 39. Nearly 70,000 people aged 15 to 39 years are diagnosed with cancer every year.  AYA patients are a unique population with regards to both cancer epidemiology and psychosocial needs.  Patients are caught between two worlds, childhood and adulthood:  Many of these patients are beginning the process of finding their independence, going to college, away from parents/family, and no longer feeling like children but not quite yet feeling like adults.

Q: Why is this age group important to you?

A: It is important that we focus our efforts toward this group of patients because the incidence of cancer in the AYA population has steadily been increasing over the last 25 years, but the overall survival in these patients has not improved. One theory for this is delays in seeking medical attention. Diagnoses may be delayed because AYAs typically see themselves as invulnerable, causing them to ignore or minimize common cancer symptoms.  In addition, providers tend not to think about cancer in this age group, and symptoms may be attributed to fatigue, stress or other common causes. By educating young people and physicians, we may be able to diagnose and therefore treat AYA patients much earlier.

Q: What is the L.E.A.P. AYA Cancer Program?

A: Our AYA Oncology program identifies the urgent need for education, training and communication activities to raise awareness and recognition of AYA preventable cancers at both public and professional levels. With the assistance of the Prevent Cancer Foundation and their generous grant, we were able to begin an outreach program entitled, “L.E.A.P. AYA Cancer.” Our program is a combination of “teach the teacher” and “pay it forward.” We provide knowledge regarding the most common AYA cancers, the signs and symptoms associated with them, and ways to prevent these cancers to medical students and residents. By empowering these medical professionals with this knowledge early in their learning, we hope to impact the way they examine and educate patients throughout their medical career.

Q: What have been the program’s successes so far?

A: Thus far, we have met with several trainees and presented our information. Through our program, we have seen an increase of great than 75% in their AYA knowledge. Armed with this teaching, we have had several residents volunteer to “pay it forward”, and in the fall they will be going into the community to educate high school and college students with their new knowledge.

Q: How many residents, high school and college students do you expect to reach?

A: We would like to reach as many students as possible by attending health and biology related classes. The more people that we can inform the better.  We are focusing our efforts on inner-city schools as they may have fewer resources than other schools, but plan on trying to engage many of the communities in our city.

Learn more information about the Prevent Cancer Foundation 2012 Community Grant Awardees.