Education on screening and prevention can help improve cancer outcomes

Reducing the impact of cancer means getting involved in caring for people before they become patients. This includes expanding access to preventive care and spreading awareness and education that lead to new habits.

The Office of Community Outreach & Engagement (OCOE) at the UAB O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center focuses on improving cancer outcomes among medically underserved populations in our region. This can include family, friends, and neighbors. With the help of various partners, the OCOE provides resources to help prevent cancer or reduce the impact of a diagnosis.

Alabama’s cancer rates and cancer mortality rates are both significantly higher than the national averages, according to 2023 statistics shared by the Alabama Department of Public Health. Breast, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancers are the most common and account for more than 47% of all new cases in Alabama. However, more Alabamians die from lung cancer than from breast, colorectal, and prostate cancers combined.

As an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, the UAB O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center focuses on addressing cancer-related health disparities in our region. To help reduce the number of cancer cases and lower mortality rates, we focus heavily on expanding screening, encouraging healthy lifestyle changes, and educating underserved populations.

That’s where the OCOE comes in.

“Our work is specific to the needs of what is called our NCI ‘catchment area’ – the region UAB intends to serve through conducting research, community engagement, and community outreach,” said Timiya Nolan, Ph.D., APRN-CNP, ANP-BC, associate director of OCOE. “UAB’s catchment area includes the entire state. In one neighborhood, service could look like teaching residents to shop for a healthier diet. In another, it might be revisiting the dangers of smoking in new ways. And in many of our counties, there’s a constant need to coordinate transportation and access to screening.”

The OCOE works with various partners in the following ways:

• Educational outreach and engagement, especially related to the most common cancers and those with the highest mortality rates in Alabama. This includes cancers of the brain, breast, lung, prostate, colon, cervix, and pancreas.
• Promoting academic research based on findings relevant to our communities
• Supporting community-based lifestyle interventions targeting diet, nutrition, physical activity, tobacco control, and other behaviors that lower cancer risk and potentially improve cancer survival
• Conducting and supporting community education, patient navigation, and research-related programs
• Providing administrative oversight of day-to-day operations, including fiscal management, strategic planning, human resources, and serving as a liaison between scientists and community partners

Community Health Advisors

These ambitious goals require meaningful engagement over time. The OCOE trains liaisons called community health advisors (CHAs) to help provide education and spread awareness about various programs. “CHAs are laypeople trained to share information about cancer screenings, early detection, cancer prevention, and research opportunities,” Nolan said. “CHAs are an important bridge to care for their neighbors, pointing them toward support services and resources. With their community presence, they build trust within communities that may be skeptical about medical recommendations or even the O’Neal Cancer Center.”

CHA roles include:

• Sharing the benefits of early cancer detection and cancer screenings
• Helping individuals identify and overcome barriers to cancer screenings
• Answering or referring questions about screening guidelines, procedures, etc.
• Linking cancer survivors to support services

Click here if you are interested in learning how to become a community health advisor.

The OCOE is active through partnerships, programs, and a regularly updated educational curriculum. Two examples of ongoing programs it supports are the Alabama Department of Public Health’s Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program and the Hey Fellas Prostate Cancer Outreach Program, which helps foster discussion of men’s health topics.

The OCOE maintains a curriculum that its CHAs share, which is an up-to-date pathway toward better health choices and access to screenings. Some important topics it focuses on include financial and transportation barriers and navigating health care despite the “coverage gap” that many Americans face between ages 55 and 64.

Click here for more information on breast cancer screening recommendations, and please remind people you know that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.