Greenville, NC (June 18, 2012) – The American Cancer Society announced that it has recently awarded a grant of $9,146 to Vidant Chowan Hospital and $8,896 to Vidant Bertie Hospital. The funds will be used to provide colon cancer education including: colorectal screening guidelines, prevention, risk factors and awareness. According to recent statistics, colorectal cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in Chowan and Bertie counties and county mortality rates for colorectal cancer are significantly higher than for the state.
The grants are two of 21 totaling $169,118 recently made through the Society’s Health Equity Community Grant Program. The program works to reduce health disparities and increase cancer screening through community outreach, education and coordination with screening services. Awarded to hospitals, health departments and community health centers, the grants address breast, cervical and colorectal cancers and focus on populations which have traditionally been underserved, including African Americans, American Indians, Asian Americans, Hispanics and rural communities.
“There are significant disparities in accessing preventative health care in many communities across the United States,” said Morgan Daven, vice president of Health Disparities & Community Outreach for the American Cancer Society’s South Atlantic Division which stretches from Delaware to Georgia. “Working in partnership with local health care organizations, the American Cancer Society’s goal is to educate people about recommended cancer screenings and to make accessing those screenings possible in order to save lives.”
About the American Cancer Society
The American Cancer Society combines an unyielding passion with nearly a century of experience to save lives and end suffering from cancer. As a global grassroots force of more than three million volunteers, we fight for every birthday threatened by every cancer in every community. We save lives by helping people stay well by preventing cancer or detecting it early; helping people get well by being there for them during and after a cancer diagnosis; by finding cures through investment in groundbreaking discovery; and by fighting back by rallying lawmakers to pass laws to defeat cancer and by rallying communities worldwide to join the fight. As the nation’s largest non-governmental investor in cancer research, contributing about $3.4 billion, we turn what we know about cancer into what we do. As a result, more than 11 million people in Americawho have had cancer and countless more who have avoided it will be celebrating birthdays this year. To learn more about us or to get help, call us any time, day or night, at 1-800-227-2345 or visit cancer.org
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