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U.VA. CANCER PROGRAM USED AS MODEL FOR NEW STATE CANCER PLAN

Lowering Virginia's high cancer rates is the goal of a comprehensive new agenda announced recently by the Virginia Department of Health. The U.Va. Health System partnered with the state and cancer organizations across Virginia to develop the Cancer Control Plan, which aims to boost cancer control efforts in every phase of the disease, from prevention to end-of-life care.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in Virginia, causing 24 percent of all deaths in the state. In 1998, approximately 27,000 cancer hospitalizations cost the state more than $469 million, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

U.Va. Cancer Center education coordinator Diane Cole is a member of the committee that developed the cancer plan over the past three years. The Cancer Control Plan reinforces a lot of what U.Va. and the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond have already done, especially in areas like prevention and screening, patient rehabilitation and physical therapy and end-of-life palliative care, Cole said. The plan now gives all cancer organizations in the state a foundation and common direction for our future work.

One model for the state's Cancer Control Plan is the Every Woman's Life--Health Passport, a breast and cervical cancer early detection screening program started in 1994 for underinsured and uninsured women by U.Va., the Thomas Jefferson Health District, Martha Jefferson Hospital and the Virginia Department of Health. The program now receives federal funding and operates in all regions of Virginia through nearly 200 sites.

Unlike other free cancer screenings, this program is a year-round opportunity for under- or uninsured women to get free mammograms, and then come back each year afterward for follow-up screenings, said Dr. Susan Miesfeldt, co-founder of the program and assistant professor in the Division of Hematology and Oncology at U.Va.

The Cancer Control Plan stresses cancer prevention through educating the public about healthy lifestyles. We hope to help people avoid tobacco, eat a healthier diet and get more exercise, said U.Va. Cancer Center nutritionist Jennifer Lucas, who also helped write the state's plan. These lifestyle changes also help to prevent heart disease and diabetes, she said.

A lot of the more common cancers are preventable or curable if detected early, Miesfeldt said, and these are the very cancers that cost the most in lives and health care dollars. We have a lot of important efforts in the area of treatment, but now we need to focus more on prevention and early detection. And these efforts should be available to everyone in the state, not just regional areas where there are academic institutions.

For more information, contact the U.Va. Cancer Center by phone at (434) 924-9333 or toll free at (800) 223-9173.

June 9, 2001