Colon Cancer Prevention Project Featured In The Courier-Journal

Louisville, KY: January 7, 2009
For Immediate Release

On January 1, 2009, the Colon Cancer Prevention Project was featured in an article in Louisville’s Courier-Journal, and the message was clear. Each year, 2,500 Kentuckians are stricken with colon cancer and 840 die, giving Kentucky the highest death rate in the nation. This is all the more tragic since colon cancer is one of the most preventable types of cancer. The Colon Cancer Prevention Project strives to reverse this trend and eliminate preventable colon cancer death and suffering by increasing screening rates through education, advocacy and health systems improvement.

The high mortality and incidence rates from colon cancer are largely attributable to a lack of awareness and disparities in funding as compared to other cancer causes. As Dr. Whitney Jones, a Louisville gastroenterologist and founder of the Project, observed, money not only reflects public health priorities, it determines them.

For example, though colorectal cancer kills more Americans each year than breast and cervical cancers combined, the CDC spent only $14 million of its cancer prevention and control budget, as opposed to the $200 million spent on breast and cervical cancer. The article notes that Kentucky’s health department is parceling a mere $100,000 to communities -- $13,000 to Louisville – to educate people about colorectal cancer screening, but neither the state nor the city fund actual screenings.

Both Dr. Jones and Bill Beam, president of the Project and a colon cancer survivor, cite several reasons many people don’t get screened: Awareness is lacking. Early cancers don’t cause symptoms. Doctors aren’t advising people. Uninsured and underinsured individuals can’t afford it. And, Beam said, people “don’t want to talk about that part of the body.”

Despite the lack of awareness and funding disparities, there is hope that change is on the way. Kentucky recently enacted two new state laws, one which requires insurers to cover colorectal screening procedures for Kentuckians 50 and older and others considered at risk under the American Cancer Society guidelines. The other law creates a program to screen the 15% of Kentuckians who are uninsured, though it has yet to be funded.

In addition, Kentucky’s cancer groups are increasingly turning their attention to colorectal cancer, and the portion of Kentuckians 50 and older who have had a screening sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy has risen from 34.2% in 1997 to 58.6% in 2006. Jennifer Redmond, program director at the Kentucky Cancer Consortium, said the Colon Cancer Prevention Project is largely responsible for the renewed focus on the disease among the state’s many cancer groups.

Currently, the Project is working to develop the state’s screening program for the uninsured, particularly those between the ages of 50 and 64. The Project is also advocating for $2.5 million from the state legislature to fund the screening program from 2010 to 2012.

In the meantime, the Project is also working to organize small screening programs in local communities, by persuading doctors and hospitals to donate their services, a method that proved effective in a screening project organized by the Project in the “Rubbertown” area of Louisville last year.

For more information about the Colon Cancer Prevention Project contact:

Claire Albright, Program Director at 502-290-0288 or calbright@c2p2ky.org.
Also visit www.coloncancerpreventionproject.org

The article and accompanying editorial are available in their entirety below.

CJ Article Jan. 1, 2009
Cj Editorial Jan. 6, 2009