Curing Cancer Together

 

Community partnerships form the core of outreach and engagement at MUSC Hollings Cancer Center. Everyone plays a critical role, said Marvella Ford, Ph.D., associate director of Population Science and Cancer Disparities, and leader of community outreach efforts at Hollings.

“If the pandemic has shown us nothing else, it shows us that we’re all connected,” Ford said. “What happens in one community affects others as well. Every community is important and every person is important.”

Ford said community engagement takes many forms and involves meeting people where they are and overcoming geographic and socioeconomic barriers.

In this section, you’ll read about programs and initiatives underway at Hollings to increase access to care and to raise community awareness about lifesaving cancer prevention and screening services.

Among the initiatives is work being done at the South Carolina Cancer Disparities Research Center, known as SC CADRE, which Ford co-directs alongside Judith D. Salley, Ph.D., chair of the Biological and Physical Sciences department at South Carolina State University.

The center is a partnership between South Carolina State University and Hollings that aims to create a diverse future generation of cancer researchers specially trained to address health disparities and improve cancer health outcomes for South Carolinians.

“In our church we say, ‘Tell the truth. The truth will set you free.’ The partnership with Hollings gives us the chance to talk to each other with truth.”
— Rev. Nelson B. Rivers

Another important initiative is Hollings’ MOVENUP Program, which trains community health educators to deliver a statewide cancer education program. This training covers cancer prevention, screening and treatment options, as well as the importance of having minorities in clinical trials.

The program is a pivotal part of reducing health disparities, said Latecia M. Abraham-Hilaire, DHA, who serves as a member of the SC CADRE Community Outreach Core.

“We are committed to inform community residents about the importance of community trials,” she said. “If we don’t take part in trials, especially minorities, then we don’t have the research that can help benefit us when it comes to appropriate care.”

Since 2007, the MOVENUP Program has helped to train over 900 people to deliver lifesaving education about cancer that has reached more than 5,000 people across the state.

“Our mission is to take education to communities,” Ford said. “We must strategize to increase access to care in these communities and train the next generation of cancer disparities researchers.”

Rev. Nelson B. Rivers of Charity Missionary Baptist Church in North Charleston has seen the impact outreach has had on his congregation.

 

“In our church we say, ‘Tell the truth. The truth will set you free.’ The partnership with Hollings gives us the chance to talk to each other with truth,” Rivers said. “The truth is the enemy of a lie and death because what you don’t know can kill you. We need people to tell the truth, and this encourages people in the church to speak truth to each other.”

Early in 2021, Hollings announced a new initiative called the SC AMEN Program, led by Ford, aimed at improving prostate cancer screening rates in Black men. The initiative is made possible by the generous support of the TD Charitable Foundation.

Lee Moultrie, a prostate cancer survivor, serves as one of the SC AMEN Program's biggest ambassadors.

“I don’t believe in excuses or being a victim,” he said. “I feel a responsibility as an elder in society to speak out and have this conversation with other men.”

Ford said this initiative helps ensure people don’t fall through the cracks. “What we want to do is consistently let Black men know that their lives matter to us, and that they are important to their families, their communities, to the state and to Hollings Cancer Center.”

Hollings is working to address health disparities unique to the state and make sure that research findings get disseminated to the communities that need to know about them. Smoking cessation efforts are another way that Hollings is integrating the work in its labs to impact community health.

“We want to promote the health of all communities in South Carolina,” Ford said. “It’s only by doing that that we’ll see the huge changes in cancer outcomes we want to see.”

Making a difference across South Carolina