CANCER
Cancer Hospital. “We’re not doing enough, so that’s the exciting part to me, to say ‘What can we think of that we haven’t yet? How can we reach people that we haven’t reached yet?’ ”
The numbers show that education efforts must continue for new generations and emerging populations in underserved areas, said Jill Shaw, a Columbus-area American Cancer Society health systems manager focused on primary care.
“We have to continue to fight. We have to continue to push. We have to continue to talk about awareness, because it never goes away,” she said.
Ohio mimics the nation when it comes to economic disparity in cancer deaths. Research by Ohio Department of Health investigators, using five years of data ending with 2015, showed that cancer mortality rates are 19 percent higher in the state’s poorest counties compared with the wealthiest.
Poverty factors into outcomes in many healthrelated matters, from chronic Jill Shaw, Columbus-area American Cancer Society health systems manager
“We have to continue to fight. We have to continue to push. We have to continue to talk about awareness, because it never goes away.”
diseasessuch asdiabetes to vaccination rates, said Dr. Ted Wymyslo, chief medical officer at the Ohio Association of Community Health Centers, which represents federally qualified health centers that provide no- or low-cost health care.
“You can’t give everyone equal interventions and expect that’s going to get everyone to a better place,” said Wymyslo, former director of the Ohio Department of Health. “We’ve got to put even more effort toward those areas that are having the worst outcomes or we’re not going to correct that deficit.”
Some of the biggest barriers in the low-income population served by the Lifecare Alliance Columbus Cancer Clinic in thehilltopare language, transportation and difficulty understanding health information and services, director Christin Brown said.
People who are the most disadvantaged, she added, may avoid screenings offered
at the clinic because they don’t have insurance and would not be able to afford treatment if it was necessary.
For that reason and others, many with low incomes are diagnosed at later stages of disease, when it may be untreatable.
The Columbus Cancer Clinic links those diagnosed with cancer to a navigator to help them find affordable treatment, said Kim Hulsey, community health worker at the clinic. During the treatment phase, it offers a food pantry, transportation to medical appointments, medication assistance and medical supplies, wigs and prosthetics.
Other services for those in need include mobile clinics that organizations send to remote or underserved areas to offer services such as breast-cancer screenings. Gray also pointed to the James’ giant, eye-catching inflatable colon exhibit that also travels, attracting people into conversations about
the importance of colorectal cancer screening.
The American Cancer Society alsoworks armin-arm withfederally qualified health centers to offer resources, guidance, technical support and grant funding to increase cancer education and screenings among the most vulnerable, Shaw said.
The centers regularly review data in an effort to improve screening rates, which are gradually improving, Wymyslo said.
Among other health center programs is a FLU-FIT partnership with the state health department to provide take-home colorectal cancer screening tests for people getting flu shots, said Ashley Ballard, who directs clinical quality at the Ohio Association of Community Health Centers. And a partnership with the Cancer Society in school-based clinics seeks to increase screenings of a virus that can lead to cervical cancer.
The state Department of Health also has the Ohio Breast and Cervical Cancer Project, in place since 1994, that includes a program to provide no-cost breast and cervical cancer screenings to the low-income uninsured, department spokesman J.C. Benton said. Outreach efforts are focused on counties with high breast and cervical cancer rates, late diagnoses and deaths.
The no-cost Ohio Tobacco Quit Line helps the uninsured, Medicaid and Medicare recipients and pregnant women, who can all receive telephone counseling and nicotine patches, gum or lozenges, Benton added. A Baby and Me Tobacco Free program provides diaper vouchers to participants who quit and remain tobacco free.
Benton said Ohio’s Plan to Prevent and Reduce Chronic Disease includes cancerrelated efforts with an eye on screenings for breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screenings as well as tobacco use and other contributing factors.
Shaw said the Cancer Society also works with the state and local health departments as they address various social issues that affect health outcomes.
“If we all just band together— because we’re all after the same outcome: better health and decreased cancer deaths— I think we can have broader impact,” she said.