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UNC Lineberger’s Carolina Cancer Screening Initiative is working in partnership with the Roanoke Chowan Community Health Center in Ahoskie, North Carolina, to improve the colorectal cancer screening rates in a part of the state that has been significantly challenged by this disease.

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The Colon Cancer Coalition has awarded a $25,000 grant to UNC Lineberger’s Carolina Cancer Screening Initiative to support a program designed to improve colorectal cancer screening rates in Hertford County, North Carolina.

The Colon Cancer Coalition has awarded a $25,000 grant to UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Carolina Cancer Screening Initiative (CCSI) to support a program designed to improve colorectal cancer screening rates in Hertford County, an area in Eastern North Carolina that has a significantly higher than national rate of colon cancer deaths.

CCSI is working in partnership with the Roanoke Chowan Community Health Center in Ahoskie, North Carolina, to develop a screening outreach program that includes mailing an in-home colorectal cancer screening test (a fecal immunochemical test, or FIT) and following up with reminders to complete and return the test. This program also will provide no-cost medical care and transportation service for people who, based on their FIT result, require a follow-up colonoscopy.

“We are grateful for the Colorectal Cancer Coalition’s support of the work we’re doing with the Roanoke Chowan Community Health Center to improve the colorectal cancer screening rates in a part of the state that has been significantly challenged by this disease,” said UNC Lineberger’s Dan Reuland, MD, associate professor of medicine in the division of general medicine and clinical epidemiology at UNC School of Medicine, and director of CCSI.

The grant was funded with proceeds of the Colon Cancer Coalition’s annual Get Your Rear in Gear – Raleigh 5K Run/Walk. This year’s event will take place Saturday, March 10, at the WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, and is currently open for registration.

“Removing the barriers that prevent people from being screened for colorectal cancer is a critical step to improving the health of our neighbors, families and friends, so we’re pleased to be able to support this important program UNC Lineberger is putting in place in Hertford County,” said Anne Carlson, executive director for the Colon Cancer Coalition.

This project will build on the success of a colorectal cancer screening program CCSI developed for Medicaid beneficiaries in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, said Alison Brenner, PhD, associate director of CCSI. “Using an evidence-based approach to developing these screening programs will help us to reach and screen more people in Hertford County,” said Brenner, “and the lessons we learn from the Hertford County project will help us shape future large-scale interventions programs in North Carolina.”

About the Colon Cancer Coalition / Get Your Rear in Gear events

The Colon Cancer Coalition is a non-profit organization based in Minneapolis dedicated to encouraging screening and raising awareness of colon cancer. The organization’s signature Get Your Rear in Gear® and Tour de Tush® event series are volunteer-driven in communities throughout the United States. In 2017 the Colon Cancer Coalition granted over $1 million dollars to local communities that will build and sustain programs promoting early prevention, screening, and patient support services for this disease. By making the words colon, colorectal and colonoscopy a part of the everyday language, we believe we can overcome the fear and decrease deaths from this largely preventable cancer. For more information visit ColonCancerCoalition.org.