SPECIAL POPULATIONS NETWORKS FOR CANCER AWARENESS RESEARCH AND TRAINING
- Synopsis of a New Program Opportunity

The Appalachia Cancer Network

I. SPECIFIC AIMS

The Markey Cancer Center at the University of Kentucky, in conjunction with its key consortium affiliates (Penn State University and West Virginia University), and its other regional partners and community-based, cancer control coalitions, proposes the establishment of the Appalachia Cancer Network (ACN). The ACN will utilize the lessons learned during the last seven years by the National Cancer Institute-funded Appalachia Leadership Initiative on Cancer (ALIC) to support and develop a robust and sustainable cancer control infrastructure within the region. From this organizational base, the ACN will promote the expansion of cancer control awareness within the rural, medically underserved populations of Appalachia. Through research and cancer control activities, the ACN will address the key barriers to cancer control services for rural sub-populations within the Appalachian region.

The long-term goals of the ACN program are to:

The ACN proposes to achieve the following program objectives. These are to:

II. NALIC Background

The Northern Appalachia Leadership Initiative on Cancer (NALIC) is based in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State University. Working through Cooperative Extension at Penn State and Cornell University, and with the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, NALIC has provided support for the 15 community-based cancer coalitions located in the Appalachia region of New York and Pennsylvania.

Through a partnership with 26 health care organizations, academic centers, health departments, advocacy groups, human service organizations, the AHEC, state and regional cancer centers, including two regions of the Cancer Information Service, four cancer centers, and the Penn State College of Medicine, NALIC has built an infrastructure capable of addressing a full spectrum of cancer needs in rural northern Appalachia.

The NALIC project mission is to build local and sustainable cancer control coalitions composed of community residents and members of local health and human service organizations who will work together to bring needed cancer services and educational programs to the families of rural medically underserved and underinsured communities. NALIC staff provide technical support and skills training to all coalition members and partners on the topics of health education, cancer program planning, marketing and media strategies, low literacy materials development, cancer library resource development, storytelling, coalition building, leadership development, volunteer recruitment, negotiation and team problem solving.

At the local level, NALIC is comprised of 15 coalitions; 13 in Pennsylvania and 2 in New York. These volunteer-based coalitions regularly facilitate health education programs, health fairs, cancer screenings, focus groups, and literature distribution to families in their counties. From May 1993 to December 1998, the coalitions of the NALIC project facilitated 756 such activities. Nearly 63,000 people (62,857) were reached by 450 of those efforts. To carry out their programs, each coalition has developed local partnerships with the CDC Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, with local community health centers, hospitals, visiting nurse associations, libraries, schools, businesses, volunteer organizations and many others.

III. Next Steps in the Northern Region of Appalachia

During the next five years, we will build on relationships created in NALIC over the past seven years to strengthen linkages among existing community-based coalitions and 26 academic research institutions and clinical cancer centers in Northern Appalachia. These enhanced partnerships will result in the increased enrollment of rural, medically underserved Appalachian residents of New York and Pennsylvania in cancer prevention and treatment trials and will also contribute to the involvement of minority and rural Appalachian residents in community-relevant cancer research that is conducted through universities and cancer centers that are located in Northern Appalachia.

The Pennsylvania State University, whose faculty in the College of Agricultural Sciences have directed the Northern Appalachia Leadership Initiative on Cancer from 1992 - 1999, propose to support the Appalachia Cancer Network (ACN) in the Appalachia Counties of Pennsylvania and New York. In partnership with Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences and Cooperative Extension, the College of Medicine, Department of Health Evaluation Sciences; Penn State Cancer Institute; Cancer Information Service Regions 3 and 4; the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute; and the Pennsylvania Area Health Education Centers, this network proposes an initiative which responds to the goals laid out by the University of Kentucky and the NCI. Specifically, the northern region of the ACN will: