AG 1995 04 17 - Laserfiche WebLink

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How the Objectives and Needs Will Be Met A public health educator with the Cabarrus County Health Department will organize a prostate cancer coalition composed of interested citizens of the target population. Key leaders in the black community will also be recruited to serve on the coalition. Black males already in- volved in other areas of community health will be consulted and invited to be involved. Leaders at the Department of Social Services, the Concord City Fire Department, and Cabarrus Family Recovery are likely candidates for members of the coalition as are representatives from compa- nies who employ large numbers of black males. The time frame for forming the coalition is late spring. The coalition will be charged initially with identifying barriers to prostate cancer screenings, and ways to overcome them. Members will also determine a plan for communicating information to the target population and the media. Educational and promotional information will also be a part of their task. While the health department will take responsibility for creating and ordering educational supplies, and other aspects of implementing this component, the coalition's input is needed to make it success- ful. Resources for the coalition will depend somewhat on their recommendations, but are not expected to be extravagant, isimates for this proposal include meeting materials for several meetings dunng the spring and summer - to plan a targeted campaign for black males and to assess progress and interest prior to the initial screening. The coalition will reconvene after the initial screening to evaluate the success of the campaign, and make recommendations for future screenings. Other expenses anticipated in education and outreach will include the marketing efforts recommended by the coalition. The cost of printing, advertising, purchasing and producing edu- cational materials has been estimated in the budget. Additional expenses related to recruitment and promotion of the prostate cancer screening have also been included. The initial screening will be coordinated in a timely manner with Cabarrus Memorial Hos- pitals annual community prostate cancer screening, held each fall. The purpose of holding the screenings during the same time period is three-fold. First, both orgainzations will likely benefit from increased participation as a result ora collaborative effort. By combining efforts to target high risk populations, the greater community will benefit from increased awareness of prostate cancer. Finally, by coordinating the screenings, the Health Department provides an alternative screening location for the underinsured or uninsured men in Cabarrus County. Because previous efforts to target black males have been met with varied success, the number of males estimated to be screened in this program has not been equally distributed for each of the four screenings. Instead, atotal number of 100 screenings has been set as goal for the entire screening process. If far fewer than 25 males participate in the initial screening, the coa- lition may recommend changes in the program, location or recruitment process that may improve participation for the next screening. The prostate cancer screening itself consists of a) a Prostate Specific Antigen test (PSA) and b) a rectal exam. The PSA is blood test that can be collected, but not performed, by the Health Department laboratory. This grant would allow us to contract with a private laboratory to actually perform the test and return the results. The rectal exam will be performed by physicians at Cabarrus Urology Clinic, per Dr. Hector Henry. Individuals whose exams and laboratory tests demonstrate need for further evaluation will be referred to local physicians for a diagnostic work-up.