Arkansas Cancer Coalition

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COMPETITIVE GRANTS

Fiscal Year 2015 Awarded Grants

ARcare

Program: ARcare Cancer Care

County Served: Woodruff

ACP Focus Area: Survivorship # 7

Summary of Grant: The ARcare Cancer Care program will assist the Arkansas Cancer Coalition to enhance the quality of life for cancer survivors in Arkansas. This program will focus on the development of a long-term survivorship clinic as outlined in Chapter 7, Objective 3, Strategy 2 of the Arkansas Cancer Plan.

ARcare proposes to assist the Arkansas Cancer Coalition efforts to enhance the quality of life for all cancer survivors in Arkansas by developing a long-term survivorship clinic in Woodruff County. Through this program, ARcare staff will provide cancer specific health education to 250 adults in Woodruff County and age-appropriate health screenings for primary prevention to 50 patients. The anticipated outcomes of this funding will increase affordable and accessible services to the uninsured and underinsured who have been diagnosed with cancer and provide for new services that can assist in health outcome improvement and education. Cost effective outcomes will reduce emergency room visits, delayed care of disease and increase medication compliance and follow-up treatment. Every effort will be made to ensure access to healthcare is available for all residents in our communities.

Arkansas Human Development Corporation

Program: Addressing Disparities in Cancer Education within the Hispanic and Asian Communities

Counties Served: Pulaski, Saline, Garland, Faulkner, Jefferson, Lee and Mississippi

ACP Focus Area: Disparities #5

Summary of Grant: Arkansas Human Development Corporation will implement a program that focuses on Cancer Disparities in Pulaski, Saline, Garland, Faulkner, Jefferson, Lee and Mississippi counties in Arkansas. The program title is the Addressing Disparities in Cancer Education within the Hispanic and Asian Communities and focuses on Hispanics, mainly, but will also attempt to reach the Asian community. The Centers for Disease Control have stated that the Hispanic community is affected with high prevalence rates of cancer and high death rates caused by cancer. AHDC’s staff, including health promoters and coalition members including faith- and community-based organizations, as well as the Mexican Consulate in Little Rock, among others, will join efforts to deliver to residents in the target counties, accurate and culturally sensitive information about cancer prevention, screening, early detection and treatment. Part of AHDC’s success in gaining the trust of the Hispanic community in Arkansas is due to the “use” of members who come from the same community. Therefore, this peer to peer and neighbor to neighbor approach will be employed to encourage people to develop healthy life choices. The program is promoted through presentations, health fairs, written information, awareness campaigns, health literature, media, social networks, resource centers and depositories for health literature and media material.

CARTI

Program: Transportation Assistance Program

Counties Served: Arkansas, Chicot, Crittenden, Dallas, Desha, Fulton, Jackson, Lee, Little River, Mississippi, Monroe, Ouachita, Phillips, Poinsett, Polk, Sevier, St. Francis, Union, and Woodruff

ACP Focus Area: Access to Treatment #3

Summary of Grant: CARTI will be providing transportation assistance and access to high quality cancer care to cancer patients in Arkansas, Chicot, Crittenden, Dallas, Desha, Fulton, Jackson, Lee, Little River, Mississippi, Monroe, Ouachita, Phillips, Poinsett, Polk, Sevier, St. Francis, Union, and Woodruff counties. Low-income cancer patients living in rural areas of the state have a need for transportation assistance in order to offset some of the cost of driving to a treatment facility. Patients in these counties will be evaluated for eligibility for fuel vouchers and fuel cards. Recipients of transportation assistance will be low- income, rural residents, and many will be over the age of 55. The CARTl Counseling and Resource staff works with patients to educate them on the availability of transportation assistance, determines eligibility, and coordinates the distribution of the vouchers and cards. We will provide fuel assistance to approximately 100 residents of the specified counties. CARTI also transports physicians, nurses, small equipment, and medication, including chemotherapy drugs, to clinics in Stuttgart and El Dorado once a week. This allows cancer patients to access high-quality cancer care a little closer to home.

Donald W. Reynolds Cancer Support House

Program: Enhancing Quality of Life

Counties Served: Sebastian, Crawford, Franklin, Johnson, Logan, Scott, Yell and Polk

ACP Focus Area: Survivorship # 7

Summary of Grant: The Reynolds Cancer Support House Navigation Program supports Primarily Chapter 7, Survivorship, Goal A: Enhance the Quality of Life for All Cancer Survivors in Arkansas. This project also supports Chapter 3 Access to Treatment, Goal A: Ensure that Arkansans affected by Cancer are aware of and have access to appropriate, high quality care. And it supports Chapter 5, Disparities Elimination, Goal A: Reduce Cancer Control Disparities in Arkansas. Three, Access to Treatment, which is to ensure that Arkansans affected by cancer are aware of and have access to appropriate, high quality care. The Reynolds Cancer Support House Navigation Program works to identify and eliminate barriers that prevent individuals from getting the right care, at the right time, and by the right person. Whether that involves helping a cancer patient access health insurance, working with physicians and pharmacies to identify less expensive generic drugs, finding transportation to treatment, helping a person access information about treatment options, or connecting to a support group, the Reynolds Cancer Support House seeks to help cancer patients reduce the information and financial barriers that threaten their chances of receiving the care they need. These services are desperately needed among the eight Arkansas counties served-Sebastian, Crawford, Franklin, Johnson, Logan, Scott, Yell, Polk. According to the Arkansas Cancer

Facts and Figures (2011), all of these counties, with the exception of Johnson County, have cancer death rates for all cancers combined that exceed the statewide mortality rate.

Hope Cancer Resources

Program: Access to Cancer Care

Counties Served: Benton, Carroll, Madison, and Washington

ACP Focus Area: Access to Treatment #3

Summary of Grant: The mission of Hope Cancer Resources is to provide compassionate, professional cancer support and education in the Northwest Arkansas region today and tomorrow. Our patient support programs provide navigation for financial and emotional services for cancer patients to help reduce distress during treatment. Our licensed oncology social workers evaluate newly diagnosed cancer patients for psychosocial needs and a series of services are provided based on the individual concerns of that patient and/or their caregiver. Our services include: prescription and emergency financial assistance, transportation, Spanish interpretation, crisis intervention, therapeutic counseling, education for coping and outside referrals.

Our patient transportation and financial assistance programs help alleviate the barrier of access to treatment in our region. We provide for cancer patients who live or are treated in Northwest Arkansas. Our financial assistance program helps patients who are currently in treatment and have a financial need. We have no restrictions on age, gender, race or cancer diagnosis. We provide access to cancer treatment at no cost to patients utilizing our vehicles for transportation or by providing gas cards to approximately 300 cancer patients needing assistance in our four-county region of Benton, Carroll, Madison and Washington counties.

Mississippi County Coalition for a Tobacco Free AR

Program: Body & Soul

Counties Served: Mississippi

ACP Focus Area: Prevention #1

Summary of Grant: The Body & Soul will target 4,900 congregants of 16 churches in the North East corner of the Arkansas Delta. Implementing the National Cancer Institute’s Body & Soul program, specifically designed for African American churches, will educate the populace about improved nutrition, exercise and tobacco prevention aimed at reducing cancer health disparities. Collaboration with the Ministerial Alliance will take advantage of one of the community’s strongest infrastructures. Body & Soul will recruit peer-to-peer communication to work toward increased nutrition, exercise and cessation (Arkansas’ 1-800-QUIT NOW program). Parishioners will have access to community gardening opportunities, increasing the availability of healthy nutritious foods. This collaboration with local Master Gardeners will take advantage of underused land and an unprecedented 3 acres of Delta farmland dedicated for community gardening by the First Missionary Baptist Church of Blytheville. Blytheville Boys’ and Girls’ Club will use media advocacy to promote the Body & Soul program. With these tools and awareness, the target population will experience a reduced use of tobacco, improved nutrition, and exercise opportunities that reflect a positive impact on the public health by promoting an innovative and efficient implementation of the Arkansas Cancer Plan.

Partners for Inclusive Communities – University of Arkansas

Program: Colorectal Cancer Education for People with Paralysis and Health Professionals

Counties Served: Statewide

ACP Focus Area: Professional Education #9

Summary of Grant: This application focuses efforts on one goal within the Arkansas Cancer plan: goal F, Chapter 2: Screening and Detection, section IV, increase colorectal cancer screening rates, thereby decreasing the number of avoidable deaths caused by the cancer. The Arkansas Disability and Health Program (ADHP), through collaborations with community‐based organizations, will address this goal statewide in a greatly underserved and disparate population: individuals with paralysis and healthcare professionals who care for them. While individuals with paralysis follow the same United States Preventive Services Task Force Screening Guidelines for Colorectal Cancer, preparation can be negatively impacted by regimented bowel preparation and mobility limitations commonly experienced in this population. This project, if funded, will address two of the objectives within goal F: increase public awareness by researching, developing, and disseminating culturally appropriate health literacy information specific to individuals with paralysis and their families and caregivers; and provide continuing medical education for healthcare professionals developed and presented by a content and disability expert. The program will educate physicians, gastroenterologists, and healthcare professionals across the state regarding alternative or modified bowel preparation and screening methods, as well as promote cultural competency and awareness of common complications that can result from conventional preparation and screening methods.

PRIDE Youth Programs

Program: Too Good for Drugs

Counties Served: Union and Calhoun

ACP Focus Area: Prevention #1

Summary of Grant: The proposed PRIDE Youth Programs project will target tobacco prevention efforts in Union and Calhoun Counties in Arkansas. The proposed project will target the 6,143 of the 7,837 students (K-12) enrolled in the El Dorado, Junction City, Norphlet, Parkers Chapel, Smackover, Strong-Huttig School, and Hampton Districts. TGFD is taught in the health classes at the high school level, which usually only includes 9th grade students. Collaborations with participating schools districts are established. Certified teachers will teach tobacco prevention lessons to students resulting in increased student awareness of the hazards of tobacco and decreased student social acceptance of tobacco based on pre and post participation survey.

St Bernards Development Foundation

Program: Bringing Mobile Mammography To Your Community

Counties Served: Clay, Craighead, Crittenden, Cross, Fulton, Greene, Independence, Jackson, Lawrence, Lee, Mississippi, Monroe, Phillips, Poinsett, Randolph, St. Francis, Sharp, Woodruff

ACP Focus Area: Disparities #5

Summary of Grant: Bringing Digital Mammography to Your Community will help women overcome barriers to breast health services, using the St. Bernards Mobile Mammography Unit to offer free digital screening mammograms, breast health education and services to 1,300 women at outreach sites in 18 counties in St. Bernards’ Northeast Arkansas service area. Nine of these counties, Crittenden, Jackson, Lee, Mississippi, Monroe, Poinsett, Phillips St. Francis and Woodruff are so-called “Red Counties” as identified by the Arkansas Department of Health’s 2012 Red County Life Expectancy Profile because of their reduced life expectancies. Bringing Mobile Mammography to Your Community will offer free screening mammograms for 120 eligible indigent women. The project also will provide 75 clinical breast exams to enable women without a physician to obtain a screening mammogram. The Mobile Mammography Coordinator also will travel the service area, performing community education classes at schools, civic organizations, churches and other locations.

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Health Professions

Program: Community Based Tobacco Control

Counties Served: Statewide

ACP Focus Area: Screening and Detection #2

Summary of Grant: Target population: The target patient population includes oncology and pulmonary patients receiving care at WPRCI, at VAMS, in Little Rock, Arkansas, and hospitalized cardiothoracic surgical patients. The professional education population is oncology healthcare professionals in the Yellow and Red Counties in NE AR. Structure/Resources: The investigators are Drs. Barone, Boone and Steliga. The WPRCI and UAMS wi ll provide access to patients, a database and information technology, three carbon monoxide monitors, clinical and administrative support, and physical facilities. The professional education program is a collaborative effort between the investigators and SBMC Outputs: Products will include (a) a database for cessation treatment and follow-up for cancer patients, (b) educated healthcare providers in the Red and Yellow Counties (NE AR) (c) a systematic, tailored app roach, (d) outcome data for patients and oncology healthcare professionals. Activities: Activities include: (a) LIME survey database use, (b) patient tobacco cessation interventions, (c) tobacco cessation education for oncology healthcare professionals, and (d) data collection and analysis. Anticipated outcomes: Among the patients, a clinically significant proportion will demonstrate quit attempts, long-term abstinence, and relapse prevention. The oncology healthcare professionals will demonstrate a sustained improvement in cessation counseling and treatment behaviors and attitudes about helping people quit.

Wells Bayou Youth Development, Inc.

Program: Understanding of Bio-Banking in Women that Lack Access to Breast Care

Counties Served: Lincoln, Drew, Desha and Jefferson

ACP Focus Area: Disparities #5

Summary of Grant: In support of the Arkansas Cancer Plan Goal A to reduce breast cancer mortality rates among AA women in Arkansas, the AR Delta Biobanking Program (BBP) will target 155 AA women age 40 and above through collaboration with the UAMS Mobile Mammography Program (MMP) and community organizations using a community liaison for recruitment to increase awareness and voluntary participation in biobanking of underinsured AA women who receive a screening mammogram and those who do not. Through collaboration with the MMP, the BBP will provide a list of programs and clinical trials that collect and store biospecimens to participants within five Arkansas counties in which two of the five counties lack FDA-approved mammography screening facilities. In addition, the BBP will collaborate with health centers, community and faith based organizations, and private entities within rural regions to educate the public and communities on the importance of biobanking, increase voluntary participation in biobanking in the future, and identify behavioral factors, through focus groups and/or surveys, that may influence AA women’s willingness to donate their biospecimens. The BBP will obtain valuable information that will direct our efforts for identifying strategies to engage AA women to participate in biobanking for cancer research.

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