Read time: 2 minutes.
The LUNGevity Conversations that Count speaker series offers an opportunity to stay informed, engage in critical discussions, and learn from top experts revolutionizing lung cancer care for underserved populations. The series is intended for healthcare professionals, community health equity champions, and anyone interested in equitable access to healthcare.
In April, we welcomed Claudia M. Hardy, MPA, and Angela G. Williams, MHERC, to talk about community health advisors and volunteer community health workers partnering to address cancer screening and access to care. Their presentation chronicles over 15 years of building a community-academic infrastructure to improve cancer screening and conduct community-based research to address disparities.
You can watch the full video or use the timestamps to view specific sections.
Developing a Cancer Health Disparity Program: 0:00-11:50
Claudia begins by sharing her involvement—spanning 25 years—in developing a cancer health disparity program at the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB. The program has focused on:
- Developing cancer prevention and control outreach to communities
- Cancer prevention in underserved and minority communities
- Cancer prevention and control education activities
- Developing culturally sensitive outreach activities
- Collaborating with local and state agencies
- Identifying potential funding sources for community initiatives
Deep South Network for Cancer Control Program: 11:50-26:45
Claudia spends time highlighting one of the successful initiatives she was part of—the Deep South Network for Cancer Control. This program ran from 2000-2017 and received three separate National Cancer Institute (NCI) grants to eliminate cancer health disparity in Alabama and Mississippi counties.
This initiative relied heavily on the community health advisor model that is discussed later in the presentation. In short, this model uses trained volunteers to educate community members, promote screening, and serve as research partners.
Community Health Advisor Perspective: 26:45-42:40
Angela, who was a community health advisor for the Deep South Network, takes over the presentation to share her experiences and lessons learned. She highlights the many strengths of taking a community outreach approach, which include but are not limited to:
- Ability to deliver culturally relevant cancer information
- Ability to recruit, train, and maintain volunteer community health advisors
- Ability to implement evidence-based cancer prevent programs
- Conducting community-based research
- Educating and translating research interventions
Summary: 42:40-55:30
Claudia rejoins the conversation to summarize takeaways from the Deep South Network and share her keys to success—create trust, eliminate bias, and share power.
Check out more Conversations that Count: