Throughout The Program for the Elimination of Cancer Disparities’ (PECaD’s) history, breast cancer has been a top focus of community education and outreach in addition to continued prevention research. PECaD is proud to announce that for the past six months, community members along with PECaD faculty and staff have been working to revitalize the Breast Cancer Community Partnership (BCaP).
Originally launched in 2005, BCaP’s main goal has been to work towards eliminating breast cancer in the St. Louis region through multiple strategies including community outreach and education, research and training initiatives to address disparities in breast cancer prevention and survivorship. Through the support of community members and organizations, BCaP now hopes to be stronger than ever.
This past November, community members from multiple organizations including The Breakfast Club, Planned Parenthood, Show Me Healthy Women, Touchette Regional Hospital and others met for a relaunch workshop. The purpose of the workshop was to establish new short- and long-term goals for BCaP and create avenues to achieve the proposed goals in an impactful and meaningful way to help eliminate breast cancer disparities. Some of BCaP’s immediate goals include patient education, addressing disparities within the Bosnian, Hispanic and American Indian communities, and additional media campaign outreach and education. The workshop attendees also elected Dr. Donna Jeffe, a Washington University faculty member, and Deb Custer, a breast health navigator and PECaD member, as the faculty co-chair and community co-chair leaders, respectively, for BCaP.
Moving forward, BCaP plans to meet monthly to continue momentum and work towards combatting breast cancer in our community. These one-hour lunch meetings will serve as a way for community organizations to inform each other about what’s happening with breast cancer prevention and treatment in St. Louis, and for PECaD faculty to help assist community organizations in meeting the needs of St. Louis women. If you are interested in attending BCaP meetings, please contact Saffiyah Poole for meeting details.