The UNMC College of Nursing, in partnership with the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, Nebraska Medicine and seven community organizations, will hold the second “One-Stop Cancer Shop” event, an effort to prevent, screen and treat cancer in the community. The event will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26, at the Nebraska Urban Indian Health Coalition, 2226 N St. in Omaha.
“The One Stop Cancer Shop will bring cancer prevention screening and treatment into the community,” said Mark Darby, assistant professor in the UNMC College of Nursing and one of the event’s organizers. Pointing to health care disparities in Nebraska and the prevalence of cancer in underserved communities in Nebraska, he added, “Experience has shown that when health care is provided close to where the patient lives, trust is improved. We will also have smoking cessation information and other information about lung cancer.”
According to a National Cancer Institute study, American Indian or Alaska Native patients have more advanced prostate cancer, lower rates of definitive treatment, higher mortality and reside in areas of less specialty care, while an American Journal of Public Health study found Northern Plains men are 1.71 times more likely to die of lung cancer than non-Hispanic whites.
People who are not up to date on their cancer screenings, especially those who are underinsured, are welcome to attend. Anyone clinically eligible for screening can be screened for breast, lung, prostate or colorectal cancer at the event. Free screenings and payment assistance will be available to eligible attendees.
The event website, 1stopcancerneb.com, has more information, including contact information for questions and a registration form for those wishing to be screened. Walk-in attendees also are welcome.
Screenings will be provided for four types of cancer (breast cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer and prostate cancer), with UNMC nursing students volunteering at the event.
Community partners for the screening events include: Mount Calvary Community Church; Church of the Living God Temple 33; Christ Love Unity Church; North Omaha Area Health; My Sister’s Keeper; North Omaha Chapter AARP; and the Nebraska Urban Indian Health Coalition. The first screening was held on Sept. 28 at Mount Calvary Community Church.
This is a great project that brings together the community, UNMC, NM, and the Cancer Center.
Special shout out to our radiology department particularly the mammogram team (Amy Pitzer, Beth Laughery, Taisha Garside, and Amy Wetzler) and our CT team (Samantha Palensky, Ann Scott and Cheri Taylor), who came in on a weekend day. Ms. Mary Beth Brennan helped with scheduling and Ms Marcy Saniuk to help coordinate the radiology workflow.
Our Fleet service drivers (Jody Winchell and Jim Kelly) provided the much-needed transportation to the participants from the event to our hospital.
Ms. Jana Danielson and the financial team (Stacie Adcock, Lisa Dakan, and Hannah Scofield) of for providing counseling and helping the participants with insurance coverage.
Ms. Cyndi Nelson, Ms. Amanda Porter, and Ms. Ally Feddern for coordinating check-in of the patients to the main campus hospital.
Ms. Michaela Newman and Shonda Ross for countless hours organizing the seamless care once the participants come to our door.
Dr. Rachael Schmidt, Amanda Bond, Mindi Coleman and the Cancer Center Community Outreach and Engagement Team for keeping us in line with screening guidelines and for following up with the results for all participants regarding the imaging studies.
Mr. Mark Darby was instrumental in getting this project started and executed. His dedication to the community wellness and to the education of future nurses can be clearly seen. His main goal for this project goes beyond cancer care- He wants to close the disparity gap by overcoming medical mistrust.
Of course, there are many members of the community (Ms Monique Henry, Ms Jennifer Keys, Ms Aisha Wint, Ms Sabrina Taylor, to name a few) who worked tirelessly to encourage people to come to the event.
There are many more volunteers that I may have left out.
It truly takes a village to make this event happen.
I’m excited to see how many more of our neighbors we will be serving this coming Saturday!