Community Outreach and Engagement

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COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND ENGAGEMENT: PROJECT SUMMARY The catchment area of Siteman Cancer Center (SCC) spans 82 counties across Missouri and Illinois. The counties exhibit significantly different levels of health coverage and overall cancer burden. The population of the catchment is extremely diverse, with 15% of the population living in a rural area, and 29% in a Medically Underserved Area (MUA). Minority populations in the catchment make up 20.5% of the total population. However, a significantly higher proportion of SCC patients who are African-American live in a MUA (31.3%), compared to White patients (25.2%). Our catchment area as a whole carries a disproportionately high cancer burden, with increased incidence of late stage diagnoses and a high cancer mortality. In fact, a significant percentage of SCC catchment counties fall within the highest US quartile for breast, lung, prostate, and colorectal cancer mortality. To address the disparities and cancer burden in our catchment, SCC investigators have developed tailored educational materials, cancer-specific community partnerships, a clinical trial participation monitoring system, and expanded clinical services as part of SCC’s Comprehensive Outreach Strategy. SCC’s Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) component builds on this foundation with the goal to sustain partnerships and assure that all cancer patients and communities can benefit from clinical and scientific advances. SCC’s COE component addresses and monitors disparities among underserved populations, specifically racial (minority), geography (rural), access to services (medically underserved areas), and their interaction. SCC’s COE component is organized into an Internal Advisory Board (IAB); a Community Advisory Board (CAB); a Clinical Studies Outreach (CSO) team; and six and one-half full-time equivalents staff. These groups work together to accomplish the COE aims: (1) Monitor and evaluate the cancer burden and related disparities in the SCC catchment; (2) Accelerate the implementation of outreach, education, and clinical resources in collaboration with communities to reduce the cancer burden and related disparities in the SCC catchment; and (3) Support research to reduce the cancer burden and related disparities in the SCC catchment through: (3a) Support for community-based and health disparities research, and (3b) Continuous evaluation and education to promote diversity in clinical trial participation. To achieve these aims, COE will build upon existing strong community and regional partnerships that have emanated from SCC’s critical role as a provider and research center in our catchment area. By achieving the above aims, SCC will ensure that the center is best addressing the impact of cancer in our catchment and is developing a solid infrastructure for sustaining positive impacts and strengthening translation of SCC research to clinical practice. Together, these aims work to reduce the cancer burden and related disparities in SCC’s catchment.