Outreach to Underserved Populations

> 2005 Participants

2005 Participants

Basics and Beyond: Developing a Cancer Survivorship Program to Meet the Needs of a Diverse Population at a Safety Net Hospital in Boston
Boston Medical Center - Boston, Massachusetts
www.bmc.org
Boston Medical Center (BMC) seeks to make excellent health services accessible to all in need of care regardless of status or ability to pay. BMC will embark on a Survivorship Program planning process to fill the gap in services for patients from Boston's low-income and minority communities. The development of the Basics and beyond program will help to identify a five-year strategic plan that will address diet and exercise education, social work screening, emotional support referral and post-treatment care. To fulfill these objectives, the program will identify national cancer center and safety net hospital practices, catalog existing community resources and seek out community leaders supportive of the program's goals.

Chamorro Cancer Survivors' Network
Guam Communications Network - Long Beach, California
www.guamcomnet.org
Guam Communications Network (GCN) is the sole multi-service Chamorro (indigenous people of Guam) community-based agency in Southern California. Its mission is to increase public awareness of the issues facing the Chamorro people through education, coalition building and advocacy.  The goal of the project is to develop a comprehensive strategic plan for the start-up and long-term sustainability of a Chamorro cancer survivors' network in California that is community-driven, productive, well-informed and viable community resource. The plan seeks to identify, address and prioritize the practical needs of survivors. It also seeks to address community involvement and outreach, patient advocacy, caregiver support, short and long term goals, evaluation measures, long term sustainability and fundraising. The program will offer culturally appropriate strategies to deal with the practical issues of cancer survivorship that are community-based, long-term and self-sustaining.

Increasing Cancer Survivorship in Mobile Underserved Populations
Migrant Clinicians Network, Inc. - Austin, Texas
www.migrantclinician.org
The mission of the Migrant Clinicians Network (MCN) is to positively impact the physical, mental and environmental health of migrants and other mobile, underserved populations. The program serves to increase the capacity of clinicians to help mobile, underserved patients successfully navigate the cancer care system and access treatment resources through the Can-Track Cancer Resource Database. Additionally, it will impact patient survivorship by providing critical support and quality post treatment services. The goal is to improve the survival rate of a population that is consistently reached late in the disease process. The project will provide clinicians with the necessary resources to impact cancer survivorship among Hispanic migrants by eliminating barriers to timely diagnosis, follow-up and treatment.

La Lucha Por La Vida: Developing a Model Program for Spanish-speaking Brain Tumor Survivors and Their Families
National Brain Tumor Foundation - San Francisco, California
www.braintumor.org
The National Brain Tumor Foundation (NBTF) is a nonprofit health organization that raises funds for research and provides information and support to patients, their families and health professionals in both English and Spanish. The program will develop an effective and culturally relevant model for meeting the needs of Spanish-speaking brain tumor survivors and their families in Miami, Florida. This will be achieved by conducting a literature review to assess what is known about the needs and best practices for community health education in Spanish-speaking populations and by conducting informational interviews and focus groups with health professionals and community-based organizations that work with this population. Additionally, key patients, health professionals and caregivers in Miami responsible for implementing the program will convene and the program will be developed and implemented based on these findings. This new model of service delivery will have the potential to be used and replicated for other cancer types as well.

Smith Farm Spirit of Survivorship: A Faith-Based Community Outreach Program for African-American Cancer Survivors  
Smith Farm Center for the Healing Arts - Washington, D.C.
www.smithfarm.com
Smith Farm Spirit of Survivorship (SFSS) offers educational and transformational healing programs that lead to life-affirming changes for cancer survivors.  SFSS will partner with primarily African-American district churches to improve education, support and access to resources for underserved cancer survivors. SFSS will provide guiding ministry workshops at churches and train at least one person from each church to provide on-site resources and workshops.  Workshops will include information on culturally appropriate community resources, training in communication skills, instruction in coping techniques, education in nutrition and exercise, and forming survivor-led support groups.

Sibling Community Collaboration Training
SuperSibs! - Rolling Meadows, Illinois
www.supersibs.org
The mission of SuperSibs! is to support, honor and recognize "shadow survivors"-the affected 18,000 siblings of children diagnosed with cancer each year. To reach this underserved population of siblings of children with cancer and Alaska natives in Seattle, a concentrated area of pediatric cancer treatment, this custom designed training plan will equip, enable and empower local facilitators to implement the Sibling Support Program series for Teens and Young Children. Program objectives include raising awareness for sibling survivorship issues, training for ongoing local programming and evaluation, building replicable models for other community trainings and creating a possible future SuperSibs! chapter. SuperSibs! will work in collaboration with Gilda's Club Seattle on this project.

The Training of Members of Community Cancer Coalitions to Develop Local Plans to Enhance Survivorship from Colorectal Cancer in a Network of Rural Appalachian Communities
Pennsylvania State University - Hershey, Pennsylvania
http://www.hmc.psu.edu/college/
As part of the Appalachia Community Cancer Network, Northern Appalachia Cancer Network (NACN) develops, tests and disseminates evidence-based interventions that lead to community changes aimed at reducing cancer disparities in the Appalachian communities of Pennsylvania and New York. In collaboration with Community Outreach and Education (COE) at the Penn State Cancer Institute (PSCI), this project will build the survivorship knowledge and skills of leaders, survivors, public health staff and heath providers in NACN coalitions and develop a local plan to enhance colorectal cancer survivorship in Appalachian communities. A model local survivorship plan, based on the National Action Plan, will be developed and distributed. The plan will include information about the stages of survivorship and effects of cancer as well as local resources, assistance programs and behavioral changes. Each coalition will develop its own plan based upon local resources and needs while also assisting the PSCI in delivering survivorship outreach and education through a public health approach.

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