It's a grassroots movement to stop a killer.
The killer is colorectal cancer, the second leading cause
of death among cancer patients, surpassed only by lung
cancer.
Colorectal cancer (CRC) can largely be prevented through
proper screening. However, about 40 percent of adults have
never been screened for colorectal cancer, as recommended,
and this number is even higher among minority/underserved
populations.
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Tsu-Yin Wu |
In observance of Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month in
March, Eastern Michigan University started an innovative
intervention to promote CRC screening in Ypsilanti School
District schools.
The students at the Ypsilanti High School and Lincoln
Consolidated High School and Middle School were trained
to become colon health ambassadors and wrote letters to
their loved ones to deliver important messages about the
importance of colorectal cancer screenings for all people
50 and older.
"We have reached more than 1,600 students in the Lincoln
and Ypsilanti high schools and middle schools so far," said
Jeanne McDonagh, instructor of nursing.
Forty EMU community health nursing students were supervised
by four nursing clinical faculty members (Marty Raymond,
Rosa Emeigh, Kim Allan and Jeanne McDonagh) and were trained
to deliver age-appropriate classroom presentations about
colorectal cancer and colorectal screening guidelines.
"The project intervention expects to create a more effective
delivery to address missed opportunities for educating
and promoting early detection of this deadly disease," said
Tsu-Yin Wu, an EMU associate professor of nursing.
There is at least one early result that the message
about colorectal cancer is finding its audience.
Within hours after the presentations were delivered at
Ypsilanti High School, McDonagh said that the study investigator
for the project received a phone call from a woman who
inquired about the relationships between colorectal cancer
and colonoscopy.
The Ann Arbor Chapter of the Oncology Nursing Society
(ONS) was funded for this project by the Michigan Public
Health Institute.
