Arkansas Cancer Coalition

If you receive a phone call asking for donations, it is not the Arkansas Cancer Coalition! Please report those phone calls to the Arkansas Attorney General's office!
COMPETITIVE GRANTS

Fiscal Year 2020 Awarded Grants

Mainline Health Systems

Program:  Project: Early Detection

Funding Amount:  $55,000.00

Counties Served:  Ashley, Bradley, Chicot, Desha, and Drew

Focus Area(s):  Prevention (Breast, Cervical, Colorectal)

Grant Summary: Mainline Health Systems, Inc. (MHSI) will continue to update and implement an active recall list of all MHSI patients who need a cervical and/or colon cancer screening, MHSI will also create and implement an active recall list of all MHSI patients who need a breast cancer screening.

The Clinical Quality Director will update the recall list and the Quality Coordinator will be responsible for the implementation process. The Quality Coordinator will continue to contact all female patients, ages 23-64, who have NOT received a hysterectomy, in need of an annual cervical screening. The Quality Coordinator will continue to contact all patients, ages 50-75, who are in needed of a colon screening. The Quality Coordinator will begin contacting all female patients, ages 40-69, in need of an annual breast screening.

CARTI Foundation

Program:  Helping Cancer Patients Access Treatment

Funding Amount:  $35,000.00

Counties Served:  Statewide

Focus Area(s):  Survivorship

Grant Summary:  Transportation assistance for cancer patients is a vital part of CARTI’s patient assistance program. Patients who are low-income, uninsured or underinsured may need assistance with fuel costs. The lack of health insurance or being underinsured may prevent patients from receiving treatment. Paying for fuel allows patients to continue their treatment regimen giving them a greater chance of survivorship, which can impact public health in Arkansas and support the Arkansas Cancer Plan goals.

CARTI has chosen to request funding for following services:

  1. To provide fuel cards/vouchers to approximately 280 patients
  • Fuel cards/vouchers are issued immediately upon the determination of eligibility.
  1. Van transport, including ARLife Transport for approximately 40 patients
  • CARTI uses vans/cabs to benefit qualified patients in need of transportation services to a CARTI facility.

The social worker schedules the patient for transport using the Patient Transportation Request System. An automatic email is sent to the transportation team members with details. Drivers pick up patients, take them to CARTI and then return them to their original destination. Drivers go to the patients’ door and assist them into the van but cannot enter a patient’s home. For patients needing extra assistance during transport, CARTI will use ARLife Transport services, which includes: Barton chair (a multi-positional chair with an unlimited number of postures for passengers with mobility issues), reclining wheelchair, standard wheelchair, or Bariatric transport in wheelchairs for patients whose weight is 300 pounds or more.

  1. Transportation for physicians, staff and medicine to travel to clinics in El Dorado and Stuttgart. These trips are made weekly for approximately 48 weeks. The Stuttgart clinic will have approximately 2,250 patient appointments and El Dorado will have approximately 7,200.

St. Bernard’s Development Foundation

Program:  Increasing Screening Mammography & Education Services in Disparate Rural Communities

Funding Amount:  $48,030.00

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

Focus Area(s):  Breast Cancer

Grant Summary:  The mission of St. Bernards Healthcare is to “provide Christ-like healing to the community through education, treatment and health services.” There are 18 primarily rural and impoverished counties in the Northeast Arkansas region that St. Bernards Mobile Mammography Unit (MMU) serves. Mammographers/Coordinator, schedules mammography screening and breast health education opportunities for underserved women residing in the Northeast region through collaborations with Witness Project, Arkansas Baptist Association Medical Mission, local health units, rural clinics, industries, churches, schools, civic organizations and others.

St. Bernards Healthcare has purchased a new mobile mammogram coach with anticipated delivery in July 2019. This coach will be equipped with a new 3D Hologic Dimensions Mammography unit to provide quality breast imaging technology to 185 indigent women. Services will include screening mammograms to underserved women and clinical breast exams, as well as breast health education to 2,300. The MMU will focus efforts in these “Red Counties” and “persistent poverty” counties to reduce the barriers concerning lack of access to a mammography facility, and increase awareness, breast health education and ease financial burdens that prevent women from getting a mammogram, as well as to the remaining 11 counties served. In addition to increasing access to mammography services, St. Bernards MMU will assist 15 women who have an abnormal screening mammogram with fuel cards to reduce the expense of travelling to a mammography facility for diagnostic follow-up.

Washington Regional Medical Foundation

Program:  Washington Regional Cancer Support Home Programs

Funding Amount:  $36,700.00

Counties Served:  Benton, Carroll, Madison, Washington

Focus Area(s):  Colorectal Cancer, Oral Cancer, & Breast Cancer

Grant Summary: Washington Regional’s Cancer Support Home (CSH) is requesting support for three programs that directly address goals of the Arkansas Cancer Plan: Colorectal Cancer Outreach program (CCOP), the Washington Regional Mobile Dental Unit (MDU) program and the comprehensive breast health program at CSH. These programs address the goals and objectives in the Colorectal Cancer, Oral Cancer and Breast Cancer chapters of the Arkansas Cancer Plan.

Screening and early detection of colorectal cancer is critical to decreasing mortality rates and increasing survival. CSH works to increase screening rates through the CCOP. This program provides up to $1,500 in financial assistance to eligible clients who need screening and diagnostic services. Clients must have a first-degree family history of colorectal cancer or be symptomatic and meet the income eligibility requirements (200% of the Federal Poverty rate or below).

Access to oral health care is insufficient for low-income adults and those living in poverty in Northwest Arkansas. In order to address this need for more dental care for low-income adults, Washington Regional launched the Mobile Dental Unit (MDU) in 2014. This 40-foot, customized vehicle is a complete dentist’s office that is driven to partner sites throughout the region to deliver free comprehensive dental services and preventive education. This program serves over 1,350 dental patients each year. All patients will receive an oral cancer screening at each visit with support from the Arkansas Cancer Coalition.

Education and early detection are critical to increasing survival rates from breast cancer. Women facing barriers to care struggle to receive timely screenings. To address this need CSH will offer two breast health screening clinics providing education, free breast health exams and free screening mammograms. Women facing both financial and cultural barriers to care are the primary focus of these clinics.

Daughters of Charity Services of Arkansas

Program:   Increasing CRC Screening in Desha and Lincoln Counties through an Evidence-Based Multi-Component Intervention

Funding Amount:  $47,964.00

Counties Served:  Desha & Lincoln

Focus Area(s):  Colorectal Cancer

Grant Summary:  The Daughters of Charity Services of Arkansas (DCSARK), a HRSA-designated Rural Health Clinic, operates two primary care medical clinics in Desha and Lincoln Counties. DCSARK will decrease CRC deaths in our service area by increasing our CRC screening rate by 58%. We will screen 1,566 patients who are at elevated risk for CRC morbidity in accordance with 2018 American Cancer Society screening guidelines and USPSTF recommendations.

Patients were identified via an EMR query of adult patients seen from January 2017 – December 2018 between the ages of 45-75 who have not had an FOBT/FIT in the past year, Flex Sig in past 5 years, or colonoscopy in past 10 years. A review of Arkansas Cancer Registry data indicates that Women, regardless of race, and Blacks are at the highest risk for CRC in the service area. Therefore, of the 1,566 targeted patients, these groups will comprise our priority population. Of the entire targeted population, 58.5% are Women; 474 are Black Women and 381 are White Women. Within the Male subgroup, 317 are Black and 286 are White. Among all targeted patients, almost 37% are diabetic and 30.7% smoke.

Using our nationally recognized Chronic Care Model and Care Team approach, we will use a Community Preventive Services Task Force evidenced-based approach that arms patients with the information needed to make informed screening choices, provides FIT CRC screening/follow-up, and offers patient navigation to patients who test positive.

St. Francis House NWA, Inc. dba Community Clinic

Program:  Be WELL

Funding Amount:  $50,510.00

Counties Served:  Benton & Washington

Focus Area(s):  Prevention (Cervical, Breast, Colorectal)

Grant Summary:  Community Clinic will raise the percentage of cancer screening among our patient population for cervical, breast and colorectal cancer by using funds from the Cancer Coalition to better communicate with our patients by implementing a messaging program. The grant funds will allow for planning, implementation, and use of an integrated two-way texting software platform to improve patient compliance by enabling communication about their screening without having uncomfortable conversations with a live person. The system interfaces directly with our electronic medical system to create automatic messages to patients through text messages in their appropriate languages. This system can manage campaigns that focus on colorectal, breast and cervical cancer screening by sending reminders and addressing barriers that may prevent the patient from being compliant.

Hospice & Palliative Care Association of Arkansas

Program:  Arkansas Advance Care Planning Project

Funding Amount:  $37,132.32

Counties Served:  Statewide

Focus Area(s):  Palliative Care

Grant Summary:  The Arkansas Cancer Plan (ACP) acknowledges the importance and necessity of quality palliative care for cancer patients. One main goal of palliative care is to promote advance care planning, which is important for all cancer patients, regardless of where they are on the continuum. Advance care planning involves expert communication between patients, families, and healthcare providers about diagnosis, prognosis, surrogate decision-making, goals of cancer care, and ultimately aligning the treatment plan with current and future needs. Documenting those wishes through an advance directive or other document is an essential part of advance care planning.  In 2017, Arkansas Legislature passed a bill for POLST (Physician Order for Life Sustaining Treatment) for the state. We are in a unique position to educate patients and providers about POLST and other advance care planning tools.

There are three parts to this advance care planning project. The first is to create a website to educate patients, their families and providers about POLST and Advance Directives (documents of advance care planning). Arkansas was the 49th state in the country to create a POLST law. The legislation was not accompanied by any monetary support for education or training.  The website will be open to both the public and healthcare professionals. It will have education about the law, how to use the form, and contain resources for advance care planning and communication.

The second part of the project will bring an expert speaker for both UAMS and the Hospice and Palliative Care Association of Arkansas (HPCAA) statewide conference to speak about advance care planning. This HPCAA conference brings specialists from multiple disciplines from around the state, including red counties, to learn about hospice and palliative care and improve practice. The third part of the project will use grant resources to purchase advance care planning materials and forms that will be available to any hospital, clinic, nursing home, or hospice free of charge.

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.