The Bristol-Myers
Squibb Foundation today announced a three-year, $1.74 million grant
to the GRU Cancer Center for a pilot program to reduce the burden of
lung cancer among underserved populations in Georgia’s Central Savannah
River Area (CSRA) by focusing on prevention, early detection, education
and helping people with suspected or diagnosed lung cancer access and
navigate cancer care and community-based supportive services in the
region. The project’s interventions will be tested for potential use
statewide.
The grant, which was made through the Foundation’s Bridging Cancer
Care™ initiative, will help the GRU Cancer Center launch
the lung cancer module of its cancer-Community Awareness Access Research
and Education initiative, or c-CARE, which seeks to more broadly address
all cancers that are preventable or may be detected early enough to
improve outcomes.
The GRU Cancer Center introduced the c-CARE initiative today during an
event in Augusta, Georgia, that featured Samir N. Khleif, M.D., director
of the GRU Cancer Center; John Damonti, president of the Bristol-Myers
Squibb Foundation; Mayor Hardie Davis Jr.; and representatives from the
public health community and faith-based institutions in the region.
Lung cancer is lethal. As the second-leading cause of death among U.S.
adults behind heart disease, lung cancer kills more Americans each year
than breast, prostate and colon cancers combined. One in two patients
diagnosed with lung cancer will die within a year. After five years,
only 16 in 100 patients will be alive. The later the diagnosis, the
worse the prognosis.
“We know that early detection and treatment of lung cancer can lead to
dramatically different outcomes,” said Damonti. “Patients diagnosed at
Stage 1 have a 57 percent chance of achieving five-year survival. That
drops to 4 percent when patients have a late-stage diagnosis. So, early
detection and diagnosis combined with education, new treatments and
patient support are keys to increased survival.”
The Foundation’s Bridging Cancer Care™
initiative is focusing on five or six southeastern U.S. states with the
highest incidence and mortality from lung cancer. The target states also
have a number of disparity populations – poor, rural and minority – who
are disproportionately affected by lung cancer.
“We are exceptionally proud that the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation
recognizes the value of our c-CARE initiative and has agreed to partner
with us to make our vision a reality,” said Dr. Samir N. Khleif,
Director of the GRU Cancer Center. “We are confident that together we
are developing a new model for cancer awareness, access, education, and
care capable of addressing issues of disparity, not only in our own
community but in communities everywhere.”
In Georgia, higher rates of smoking and other forms of tobacco use, plus
secondhand smoke and industrial exposures, have translated into higher
rates of lung cancer. Georgians are diagnosed with lung cancer 9% more
often than all Americans and die of lung cancer 7% more often. More than
4,600 Georgians will die from lung cancer this year alone, the American
Cancer Society estimates.
In CSRA counties, 500 new lung cancer cases are diagnosed each year and
about 380 people die due to the disease, according to National Cancer
Institute State Cancer Profile data. In Richmond County, for example,
residents are diagnosed with lung cancer 13% more often than among all
Georgians and 24% more than among all Americans. The lung cancer death
rate in Richmond County exceeds the state by 18% and the nation by 26%.
The long-term goal of c-CARE is to improve cancer outcomes within
minority and underserved communities through disease awareness and
education; improved cancer prevention and early detection behaviors;
navigation to care; and referral to community-based supportive
resources. The initial target population for the lung cancer module is
adult African American smokers and former smokers whose historical level
of smoking combined with other potential lung cancer risk factors makes
them eligible for low-dose CT screening (LDCT), a newly recommended tool
for early detection of lung cancer. The project will make its
educational interventions broadly available to anyone 21-80 years of
age, irrespective of their race, ethnicity or tobacco use history,
however.
c-CARE will collaborate with African American churches and community
health clinics to reach people in need. People with experience as health
care practitioners, nurses, pharmacists or trained paraprofessionals
will be recruited as Community Health Workers (CHWs). The CHWs will help
educate their respective communities about lung cancer prevention,
guidelines for early detection and new treatment options. They also will
help c-CARE participants secure tobacco cessation and lung cancer
screening services. When lung cancer is suspected or diagnosed, GRU
Cancer Center patient navigators will help participants access
appropriate care in the community, including clinical trials.
About the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation
The mission of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation is to help reduce
health disparities by strengthening community-based health care worker
capacity, integrating medical care and community-based supportive
services, and mobilizing communities in the fight against disease. For
more information about the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, please visit www.bms.com/foundation
or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bmsnews.
Copyright Business Wire 2015