Dismantling Cancer Through the Community Health Worker Workforce

Increasing cancer screening in Wisconsin through the development of a cancer screening protocol for community health workers

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Full Project Name:Dismantling Cancer Through the Community Health Worker WorkforcePrimary Community Organization:UniteWIPrimary Academic Partner:Jamila Kwarteng, PhD, MS, Institute for Health and EquityAward Amount:$415,147

Award Date

July2021

Project Duration:24 months

Project Description Narrative:

Communities of color in Wisconsin are disproportionately impacted and most devasted by cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, the COVID-19 epidemic has led to delayed cancer screenings, which can result in missed and advanced cancer diagnosis and an increase in cancer-related deaths. In communities of color most affected and impacted by this decline, this will only widen the racial divide in cancer mortality. However, there is evidence that the training and deployment of community health workers (CHWs) can help mitigate declines in cancer screening by facilitating access to services and improving the quality and cultural competence of service delivery.

Through this award, project partners will develop and implement a cancer screening protocol to support increased screening, detection and prevention in Wisconsin.

Community partners: SVT Group, American Cancer Society, UW-Madison Community Academic Aging Research Network (CAARN)

Project Updates:

Developed 16-hour CHW Cancer Prevention Training utilizing American Cancer Society Prevention and Early Detection Guidelines, CDC Cancer Screenings, MCW Cancer Experts, and Cancer Clear and Simple curriculum
Trained the first cohort of 17 Community Health Workers (CHWs) and five UniteWI team members on Cancer Prevention Protocol and screening protocol
Recruiting the second cohort of CHWs
Planning to integrate trainings into the software system to all continued training of CHWs on cancer screening beyond the project period