Arkansas Cancer Coalition

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COMPETITIVE GRANTS

Fiscal Year 2016 Awarded Grants

ARcare

Program: ARcare Cancer Care

County Served: Jackson and Woodruff

ACP Focus Area: Survivorship # 7

Summary of Grant: The ARcare Cancer Care program will assist the Arkansas Cancer Coalition in addressing the needs of long-term cancer survivors in Arkansas. This program will focus on the development of a long-term survivorship clinics 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 expanding a long-term survivorship clinic in Jackson and Woodruff County. ARcare staff will provide cancer specific health education to 150 adults and age-appropriate health screenings for primary prevention to 75 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.

Arkansas Human Development Corporation

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

Counties Served: Pulaski, Lonoke, Saline, and Faulkner

ACP Focus Area: Prevention #1 and Disparities #5

Summary of Grant: Arkansas Human Development Corporation will continue to implement a program that focuses on Cancer Disparities in Pulaski, Saline, Faulkner, and Lonoke 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. 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. 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, Desha, Fulton, Lafayette, Little River, Mississippi, Monroe, Ouachita, Phillips, Poinsett, Prairie, Union, and Woodruff

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, Desha, Fulton, Lafayette, Little River, Mississippi, Monroe, Ouachita, Phillips, Poinsett, Priairie, 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.

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 500 cancer patients needing assistance in our four-county region of Benton, Carroll, Madison and Washington counties.

Mississippi County, Arkansas Economic Opportunity Commission

Program: Project: Cancer Aware

Counties Served: Mississippi

ACP Focus Area: Prevention #1, Screening and Detection #2 and Access to Treatment #3

Summary of Grant: Cancer Aware focuses on breast, cervical, colorectal and prostate cancer, low and moderate income residents Mississippi County, with a particular concern for African-Americans. The project is designed to 1) increase awareness of the risks of cancer and knowledge of ways to reduce those risks, 2) promote increased utilization of recommended screening and early detection services, and 3) assist in patients access to high quality treatment services by developing a pool of volunteer patient navigators.

North Arkansas Partnership for Health Education

Program: North Arkansas Cancer Survivorship Program

Counties Served: Boone, Newton and Carroll

ACP Focus Area: Survivorship # 7

Summary of Grant: The North Arkansas Cancer Survivorship (NACS) program envisions empowering female (aged 18 – 65+) breast, uterine, cervical and ovarian cancer survivors under the moniker “A Knack for Life!”. NACS will be housed at the Community Health Resource Center (CHRC) and staffed with one .75 FTE coordinator and will use AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers. It will utilize the CHRC’s contacts to work in a three-county areas that includes Boone, Newton and Carroll counties.

The NACS will provide information and referral resources for survivors, their friends and families; support the NCI Cancer Information Service; initiate the building of “toolkits” of information; collaborate with similar organizations to design user-friendly websites; and develop a PSA campaign. The program will share its collected data with the Cancer Institute’s Survivorship Plan for Rural Arkansans.

THE NACS program will initiate development of ongoing resources for women who have experienced breast, uterine, cervical and ovarian cancer s and treatments to address health needs, quality of life and appearance needs, health education and self-care capacity, physiological function, and healthcare utilization. NACS will educate participants, oncologists, family practice physicians, and other healthcare workers about long-term survivorship issues through an educational networking event and speaking opportunities.

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

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 Red counties in the Northeast (Mississippi, Poinsettia and Woodruff) and Delta (Crittenden, Phillips and Desha) regions of Arkansas, Structure/Resources: The investigators are Drs. Barone, Boone and Steliga. The WPRCI and UAMS will provide access to patients, a database and information technology, three carbon monoxide monitors, clinical and administrative support, and physical facilities.

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

Program: Palliative Care Education and Statewide Outreach

Counties Served: All

ACP Focus Area: Palliative Care

Summary of Grant: The overall goal of the program is to provide access to evidence-based palliative care education for providers across the state. Primary learners targeted will be clinicians and staff who care directly for patients with cancer, particularly primary care providers, oncologists, and hospice clinicians, as well as interdisciplinary support stay such as nurse, chaplains, pharmacist, and social workers. UAMS will be partnering with the UAMS Center for Distance Health through their Learn on Demand online continuing education portal to reach health care professional in every county of the state. The project will include love presentations broadcasted and recorded through Learn on Demand, on-site presentations and mentoring for rural partners, and improved access for rural providers to attend the annual statewide palliative care conference. Learner statistics and evaluations will be collected and studied to evaluate the effectiveness of educational events.

Cancer is difficult. Getting help shouldn't be.

Imagine helping someone gain access to resources that reduce the struggle during a time of their life when so much is lost. Your donations connect people battling cancer with others ready and able to provide crucial assistance.