The College of Nursing at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center is taking cancer screening to urban and rural communities, thanks to two mobile health units donated by the West Cancer Center and Research Institute and grant funding from regional and national organizations.
Nursing faculty and students will use one of the vans to go into underserved neighborhoods in Shelby County. This cancer screening program is funded by a 12-month, $108,215 grant from The McKesson Foundation, a corporate foundation dedicated to Advancing Health Outcomes for All®. The grant supports the College of Nursing Cancer Prevention Project with the purpose of increasing access to cancer screenings for vulnerable communities. The rural cancer screening program will use a second van to go into Hardeman, Haywood, and Lauderdale counties to provide health education, cancer screening evaluations, and home colorectal or prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test kits over the next year. This program is funded through a 12-month, $168,475 sub-award from the Tennessee Center for Nursing Advancement, an organization based in Johnson City that was established to address the nursing workforce shortage in Tennessee and the Appalachian Highlands region.
Associate Professor Ricketta Clark, DNP, APRN-BC, is the principal investigator on the Shelby County project, the grant funded by the McKesson Foundation.
The goal of both outreach programs is to provide cancer education, screening, tools, and handouts at least once a week at community events and health fairs. Nursing students and faculty will distribute information on breast cancer, prostate cancer, and colorectal cancer, as well as screening questionnaires. Those who meet screening criteria will receive home test kits for colorectal or prostate cancer and will be given instructions on how to complete the kit and mail it to the laboratory for analysis.