News from the Wisconsin Cancer Collaborative | June 2023
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WISCONSIN CANCER COLLABORATIVE NEWS
Regional Meetings a Success
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Over two weeks in May, the Wisconsin Cancer Collaborative hosted three regional meetings across Wisconsin. Wisconsin Cancer Collaborative members gathered in Appleton, Pewaukee, and La Crosse to network, learn, and connect.
We send a heartfelt thank you to everyone who attended and to our presenters for sharing about the important work they are doing.
If you were not able to attend, you can view the presenter slides from each meeting here.
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CANCER SURVIVORSHIP
June is National Cancer Survivorship Awareness Month
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More people in Wisconsin are surviving cancer, and often experience unique health needs spanning their lifetime. June is National Cancer Survivorship Awareness Month and June 4th is National Cancer Survivors Day, which helps highlight these experiences and needs.
We've curated a round-up of cancer survivorship resources for you to use this month and year round.
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NATIONAL RECOGNITION
WCC members recognized by ASCO as Advocacy Champions
The American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has recognized two Wisconsin Cancer Collaborative members for their continued outstanding work.
Dr. Noelle LoConte and Dr. Kurt Oettel were both recognized as Advocacy Champions for their outstanding work during 2022.
They were honored as part of ASCO’s Speaker’s Club, ASCO advocates who often participate in multiple ASCO advocacy activities.
Advocacy Champions are ASCO volunteers who have made significant impacts by advocating at the state and federal level to ensure that every patient with cancer has access to high-quality, equitable cancer care, no matter who they are or where they live.
Thank you to Dr. LoConte and Dr. Oettel for your tremendous dedication to the patients and communities of Wisconsin. See the full list of honorees here.
We’ll have more on the ASCO 2023 Annual Meeting in our July edition of ENGAGE!
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A short list of funding opportunities, calls for proposals, and other news from our members and partners.
To submit an announcement for an upcoming newsletter, please email us.
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PARTNER EVENT
Tricia's Troops Cancer Connection Announces New Program, Project Connect
Project Connect is a free 4-week program in Delafield, Wisconsin designed by Tricia’s Troops Cancer Connection to help local cancer survivors optimize their health, healing and wellbeing. Participants have the opportunity to strengthen body, mind and soul alongside fellow survivors focused on creating a hopeful way forward.
The program will run between July 2023 – February 2024. Priority will go to individuals living in Waukesha County. Project Connect.
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PARTNER EVENT
Celebrate Indigenous Life Community Conversations
The American Indian Cancer Foundation (AICAF) is hosting a series of Community Conversations throughout the month of June. They invite providers, navigators, and advocates to join them. For each session, they will be hosting an Indigenous cancer survivor who will share their story and will debut a new Indigenous cancer survivorship resource developed through community input. Wednesdays from 12-12:45 CST
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AWARDS
Congratulations to Wisconsin “BigShot” Award Recipients
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services Division of Public Health is pleased to announce the 2023 “BigShot” Award recipients. The 115 winning recipients are health care providers in the Vaccines for Children Program who, according to data from the Wisconsin Immunization Registry, have achieved significant vaccine coverage among their patient populations.
Two vaccines help prevent cancer (HPV and hepatitis B). Among two categories of awardees, 16 providers have ensured that 90 percent of their patients are up to date on their routine series of vaccination by age 2 (which includes hepatitis B), and one provider has ensured that 80 percent of their adolescent patients are up to date on Tdap, meningococcal, and HPV vaccines.
On the Wisconsin Immunization Program webpage, you can find a list of providers who are recipients of the “BigShot” Award. Congratulations to these providers.
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PARTNER CALL TO ACTION
Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality (WCHQ) Seeking Participants for an Advanced Lung Cancer Biomarker Testing Project
Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality (WCHQ) is looking for individuals, who work in all roles in Oncology and ancillary supporting services, that have an interest in understanding and improving the biomarker testing process for patients with advanced stage non-small cell lung cancer to work with us on the Biomarker Testing Advisory Group. Other potential advisory group members include quality improvement staff, operational leaders and health system leaders.
The goals of this project are:
- to understand the landscape of biomarker testing for lung cancer in Wisconsin
- identify best practices
- increase rates for biomarker testing
- improve outcomes for patients with lung cancer
If you are interested in participating in this group or have additional questions, please reach out to Lori Bue, Quality Improvement Specialist with WCHQ at lbue@wchq.org.
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PARTNER PROGRAM
Ascension All Saints Fit To Fight Preventative Health and Wellness Program
Ascension All Saints is hosting an exercise program for patients currently undergoing cancer treatment, or cancer survivors who have recently completed treatments. One support person may also attend with the patient. Fit to Fight is designed to reduce treatment related side effects such as fatigue, weakness, shortness of breath and can improve overall quality of life. Classes are twice weekly with multiple time options. Classes are open to people both within the health system and outside the health system. However, people receiving care through Ascension may qualify for a scholarship and can reach out to a cancer navigator.
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TOOLKIT
Do Ask, Do Tell Toolkit
This toolkit created by The Fenway Institute and Center for American Progress will help you better understand the health issues facing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals and how the routine collection of structured data on sexual orientation and gender identity (SO/GI) in clinical settings can help improve care provision and outcomes for this underserved population.
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INFOGRAPHIC
Preventing Skin Cancer Infographic
Skin cancer is the most common of all cancer types. More than 5 million skin cancers are diagnosed each year in the United States. That’s why the American Cancer Society and the National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention have designated the Friday before Memorial Day as Don’t Fry Day. This infographic focuses on easy-to-follow tips to help you be sun sensible and reduce your risk of skin cancer.
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RESOURCES
ASCO Resources Related to Cancer Drug Shortages
The medical community is currently experiencing ongoing, and in some cases, worsening shortages of critical drugs. ASCO created a resource with key information.
*Please see @ASCO on Twitter for the most rapid updates on availability of cisplatin and carboplatin.
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REPORT
New Research Reinforces the Recommendation to Start Offering HPV Vaccination at Age Nine
Read new evidence on the impact of initiating HPV vaccination at ages 9-10, including population studies, quality improvement projects, brief reports, and commentaries from experts in the field. The collection of 12 published articles, with more to come, shows the benefits, effectiveness, and acceptability of routinely recommending HPV vaccination for all preteens starting at age nine. The findings include increases of up to 30% in vaccine initiation and completion rates, larger increases among adolescents with public versus private insurance and those with access barriers, and 68-86% acceptance by providers and clinics.
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REPORT
New Publication Shows Disparities in Screenable Cancers Among American Indian and Alaska Native People
A recent study using the USCS American Indian and Alaska Native Incidence Analytic database (USCS AIAD) looked at cancer incidence rates and trends for screenable cancers (colorectal, lung, female breast, and cervical) among non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native (NH-AI/AN) populations from 1999-2018. The study highlights disparities in screenable cancers between NH-AI/AN and non-Hispanic white people. Rates varied by geographic region and age at diagnosis. Additionally, over half of all lung and colorectal cancer cancers in NH-AI/AN people were diagnosed at later stages. Furthermore, while rates of lung and colorectal cancers decreased significantly between 1999-2018 among NH-AI/AN men, no significant changes were observed in rates of screening-amenable cancers among NH-AI/AN women. Addressing the social determinants of health that impact cancer risk and culturally informed community-based efforts are needed to help reduce these disparities.
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STUDY
Interrupting Endocrine Therapy to Become Pregnant Didn’t Raise Risk of Recurrence
A recent study showing that women with early-stage, hormone receptor-positive breast cancer who interrupted endocrine therapy to become pregnant did not have a higher recurrence risk than those who didn’t pause treatment. This is important because women who have been treated for hormone-sensitive breast cancer often need several years of endocrine therapy to lower the chances of their cancer coming back, which cannot be used during pregnancy. This treatment can impact people’s ability and timeline to get pregnant. This study found after about three and a half years, almost 75% of participants became pregnant at least once and nearly two thirds had a live birth.
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STUDY
Transportation Issues Linked to Increased Mortality Risk Among Cancer Survivors
Lack of reliable, and affordable transportation is a barrier to medical care. A cohort study utilizing 2000-2018 US National Health Interview Survey data and its linked mortality files, looked at associations of transportation barriers with emergency room use and mortality risk among adults with and without a history of cancer. Delayed care because of lack of transportation was associated with increased emergency room use and mortality risk for both adults with and without cancer history. Cancer survivors with transportation barriers had the highest risk.
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JOURNAL ARTICLE
How Depression Can Impact Survival for Women with Breast Cancer
Depression is common among breast cancer patients yet is understudied. A study published in Cancer found neglecting depression management after a breast cancer diagnosis may result in poorer cancer treatment concordance and worse survival. Early detection and management of depression is critical in improving patient survival and addressing both their psychological and physiological health.
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JOURNAL ARTICLE
Study On the Financial and Mental Health Impacts of Caregiving
Approximately 6 million people provide caregiving to people diagnosed with cancer, often relying on their jobs for income and health insurance to support their family. A study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology compared employed caregivers, younger than age 65 years, caring for a spouse diagnosed with cancer and a matched control group caring for a spouse with other conditions using the Health and Retirement Study (2022-2020) data set. They found that around a third of cancer caregivers reported they stopped working (35%) and had an increase in household debt (30%). Cancer caregivers from low-income households were more likely to increase debt and incur work loss compared with noncancer caregivers in similar households.
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JOURNAL ARTICLE
Pediatric Cancer Survivors Have 4-Fold Higher Risk of Death 40 Years After Diagnosis
Pediatric cancer survivors have an increased risk of late mortality, according to research published in The Lancet. Even 40 years after diagnosis, pediatric cancer survivors had a roughly 4-fold higher risk of death than the general population, researchers found. Many of these deaths were due to many of the leading causes of death in the US population (cancer, heart disease, and cerebrovascular disease). However, excess risk was lowest in survivors with a healthy lifestyle, highlighting the need for modifiable lifestyle and cardiovascular risk factors to be part of future interventions. Furthermore, authors indicate that changes in primary cancer therapy that reduce exposure to treatments known to cause late effects decades after treatment should remain a priority.
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JOURNAL ARTICLE
ASCO Evaluation of Equity in Clinical Trials
ASCO and the Association of Community Cancer Centers collaborated on a quality improvement study to enhance racial and ethnic equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in cancer clinical trials via a self-assessment. Overall, a majority (81% of 62 participating sites) identified opportunities for improvement and identified specific strategies to increase EDI in their trials (63%). Although most sites (65%) were able to provide some data on the number of patients that consented, only two sites were able to provide all requested trial screening, offering, and enrollment data by race and ethnicity. Documentation and evaluation of this data are critical steps toward improving EDI in clinical trials and identifying and addressing disparities more broadly. More work is needed to better understand processes and the feasibility of collecting this data in systematic ways.
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WEBINAR
HPV Communications - Evaluating Your Impact
Hosted by the National HPV Vaccination Roundtable
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WEBINAR
Celebrate Indigenous Life Community Conversations
Hosted by the American Indian Cancer Foundation.
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June 14, 21, and 28
12 pm - 12:45 pm
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WEBINAR
Increasing HPV Vaccination Rates
Hosted by American Cancer Society.
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WEBINAR
Cancer Transitions: Moving Beyond Treatment
Hosted by Gilda's Club.
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WEBINAR
2023 Prevent Cancer Dialogue
Hosted by Prevent Cancer Foundation.
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WEBINAR
Research Examining Disaster Impact and Resilience in Cancer Care Delivery
Hosted by National Institute of Health
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WEBINAR
Breast Cancer Survivorship Navigator Virtual Learning Collaborative
Hosted by the University of Ilinois Cancer Center
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Every Tuesday Starting September 5th
6 pm - 7 pm
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Not a member? Here's how you can join.
Joining the Wisconsin Cancer Collaborative is free. We connect you with tools, support, and expertise to help you make the greatest impact.
We hope you'll join us!
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