Page 27 - Delaware Medical Journal - November 2017

ONE MEMBER’S OPINION
We certainly have made progress from a decade ago when our state ranked at the top of the cancer mortality list. This success has been through the efforts of all the hospitals/cancer centers in the state together with the Delaware Cancer Consortium and all its volunteers.
In partnership with the Consortium’s statewide cancer control effort launched in 2001 under the direction of William Bowser, Esq., the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute
has worked diligently, reaching out to stakeholders statewide and beyond, to build a collaborative model of cancer care, prevention and clinical and translational research that is focused
on three primary goals: to drive down cancer incidence and mortality, to improve outcomes for all types of cancers among all populations in our state, and to build programs of clinical and translational cancer research. Collaboration is the key to knocking down the numbers of new cancer
cases and cancer deaths in our state. This commentary will discuss a few programs that continue to work toward these goals.
As a National Cancer Institute grant funded Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP), the Graham Center, working with the Tunnell Cancer
Center at Beebe Hospital and Nanticoke Hospital, has opened access locally to more than 100 national clinical trials in cancer treatment, cancer control, and prevention. A program of clinical trials in collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry is also ongoing to complement the National Cancer Institute clinical trials program. It is well documented that patients receive better care on clinical trials, and through these clinical trials, study enrollment is seven times the national average.
At the Graham Center, we partner with patients and their families across 12 multidisciplinary disease site centers pairing them with teams of experts in medical, radiation and surgical oncology, clinical research nurses, and a personally assigned nurse navigator, along with
all pertinent subspecialties and support services to receive their treatment plan in one visit. Our nationally recognized model for leading-edge cancer care delivery shortens the time it takes for planning and treatment and places the patient at the center throughout their continuum of care.
The High Risk Family Cancer Registry

genetic counselors to our state in
2002, making it possible for patients
to participate in genetic counseling
and gene testing close to their own cancer centers and hospitals, such as
the Tunnell Cancer Center at Beebe Hospital and Nanticoke Hospital. It has educated the public as to the importance of knowing one’s family history. Lastly, Registry leadership was responsible for shepherding passage of legislation in 2010 to require licensing of all genetic counselors in Delaware. In 2017 an accreditation program for an advanced degree in genetic counseling was
in September. The genetic counseling program is the ultimate in cancer prevention. Individuals determined to
be at high risk for developing cancer
are counseled for prophylactic surgery, chemoprevention, and increased screening at a younger age. The
Registry continues to grow in numbers, with more than 8,800 individuals and 260,000 family members and a research biorepository of nearly 700 samples,
all under Institutional Review Board approval. A Medical Center of Genetics is now under development at the Graham
Center to encompass prenatal, adult, cancer, cardiovascular, neurology, and other areas of clinical genetics.
A robust Community Cancer Outreach program in the Hispanic, African- American, Asian, and Hindu communities is a model for addressing small-scale disparities. The Graham Center outreach team works closely with other hospitals Care Centers to end disparities in cancer care by offering education and screenings for early detection of many cancers.
The Delaware Cancer Consortium has played a major role with reimbursement for breast, cervical, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancer screenings for uninsured/ underinsured if eligible under the Division of Public Health’s Screening for Life (SFL) Program. In the last 15 years, working with the aid of the Centers for Disease Control Screening for Life grant, these programs have led to more than 48,000 breast cancer screenings, more than 44,000 cervical cancer screenings, and more than 4,900 colonoscopies, states for screening and early detection for breast and colorectal cancers.
The Delaware Cancer Treatment Program provides reimbursement for cancer treatment for up to 24 months
for Delawareans who meet eligibility requirements. Financial hardship waiver process is in place for applicants whose out of pocket expenses are more than 15 percent of annual income. No other state in the country has a program like this for its cancer patients.
Since 2002, Delaware’s state-sponsored colorectal screening program is credited for declining overall colorectal cancer incidence and mortality rates and ending the disparity between African-American and Caucasian patients. The colorectal
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