Siteman Cancer Center began services at Christian Hospital in North St. Louis County July 1, 2017. With this expansion, the Program for the Elimination of Cancer Disparities (PECaD) will be able to ramp up community outreach and engagement in North County to better serve our community members. While PECaD already participates and engages with North County residents and organizations, Siteman Cancer Center at Christian Hospital provides another unique opportunity for PECaD to help address and reduce cancer disparities in the St. Louis region. With help from Christian Hospital physicians and staff, PECaD staff will be able to call upon experts to help educate community members about cancer prevention. PECaD at Christian Hospital will also allow us to expand outreach programming, events and initiatives, thanks to this new partnership.
Some increased PECaD activities you may notice will include more newspaper advertisements and metro buses containing cancer prevention messages. These cancer prevention messages will provide viewers with tips on reducing their cancer risk, such as adding physical activity into a daily routine, or staying up to date on cancer screening tests. PECaD hopes to create these new messages featuring North County residents who are also passionate about reducing cancer disparities. Take a look in the St. Louis American or Independent News newspapers to see our bimonthly cancer prevention messages, and make sure to look outside and inside the metro buses for friendly faces and prevention tips.
An exciting addition will also feature PECaD’s yearly event, the Smart Health Cancer Community Education Day, hosted in North County. Beginning in 2018, PECaD will begin hosting annual Smart Health events at locations in North County. This event provides our community residents and partners with deeper learning opportunities related to cancer prevention and research, uses the event as a platform to report back on research results, and aims to educate individuals and families about research and its relevance. These free community events are designed to deliver intensive small group and one-on-one health education through small interactive workshops over the course of four hours.
PECaD will also participate in more local community health fairs in North St. Louis County. We are currently scheduling our fall 2017 events, which will include Shalom HealthFest in Florissant. Working with Christian Hospital’s events program, PECaD plans to become a familiar face at health fairs and community events. If your organization is hosting a health fair and would like PECaD to attend, please contact us at pecad@wustl.edu.