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Grant to help communities fight cancer By Gary Abdullah
	The Northern Appalachia Leadership Initiative on Cancer (NALIC), administered by Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, has received a five-year, $2.1 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to expand into the Appalachian Cancer Network (ACN).   For nearly eight years, NALIC and its 17 community cancer coalitions have served Pennsylvania and surrounding states. Hundreds of volunteers, lay leaders, health care and human service providers and Penn State Cooperative Extension staff have hosted more than 1,000 community cancer programs for rural families.   The new eight-state project, a consortium of research partners and community-based cancer control coalitions, will bring more extensive cancer control interventions to rural communities in the Appalachian region. The project will focus on increased treatment options and cancer research for rural, low-income families.   Key ACN partners include Penn State, the University of Kentucky’s Markey Cancer Center and West Virginia University.   “ACN’s goal is to overcome barriers, such as poverty or lack of access to medical care, that prevent some people in Appalachia from participating in early detection programs, getting adequate treatment and participating in clinical trials,” said Dr. Audrey Maretzki, Penn State professor of food science and nutrition and principal investigator for the Northern ACN Region.   “With our commitment to children, youth and families, Penn State Cooperative Extension is the logical partner to promote this type of health awareness and education,” Maretzki said. “By also bringing in the Penn State College of Medicine, we now have the capacity to link high-quality cancer education programs and cancer research directly into our rural communities.”   According to Ann Ward, director of the Appalachian Cancer Network’s Northern Region, the partnership with the Cancer Information Service at the Fox Chase Cancer Institute in Philadelphia and the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute will help Penn State serve the eastern and western regions of the state, as well as the southern tier of New York.   “Through its many partners, the ACN will continue to support all 63 Appalachia cancer control coalitions on breast, cervical, prostate, skin and colorectal cancers and youth-related tobacco issues,” Ward said. “We also will work with the coalitions to link medically underserved individuals to clinical cancer prevention and treatment trials.   “Clinical trials represent cutting-edge research into potentially lifesaving treatments. In rural areas, this treatment option often is not available, because rural health care providers are not as involved in clinical trials as providers in urban centers,” she added.   To address these needs, the ACN will coordinate training sessions, workshops and media campaigns on cancer topics. The network also will measure community knowledge of existing cancer control programs and the latest advances in cancer prevention, screening and treatment. In addition, ACN will provide improved access to National Cancer Institute resources and encourage and assist local health professionals in developing research proposals.   Cancer rates in most of Appalachia — including New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky and Tennessee — exceed the national averages, particularly with lung, cervix and colon cancers.   “Rural participation is critical, because these areas have higher rates of cancer death than suburban or urban areas,” Dr. Eugene Lengerich, associate professor of epidemiology, Penn State’s College of Medicine, said. “We need to understand how rural areas can gain access to the best efforts in cancer prevention, control and care. The challenge in Appalachia, as in any area, is to help communities work to improve the health of their residents.   “In some communities, residents may need transportation to health care providers who offer the latest in cancer care, while other communities may want to help teenagers stop smoking, since smoking causes one in three cancers,” Lengerich said.   Penn State also will offer minorities, women and first-generation college students opportunities to conduct cancer research.   ACN’s efforts to connect national cancer research initiatives to rural communities and underrepresented populations fills a critical need, according to U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, who chairs the appropriations subcommittee that oversees all federal health spending.   “NALIC continues to make impressive progress in the fight against cancer, one of our deadliest enemies, both by helping disadvantaged people directly and by teaching them to help themselves,” Specter said. “The federal government can and must continue to do its share in this fight. No effort is more important than funding research through the National Institutes of Health.”
© 2002 Outreach Communications,   Outreach & Cooperative Extension,   The Pennsylvania State University phone: (814) 865-8108,   fax: (814) 863-2765,   e-mail: outreachnews@outreach.psu.edu