annual report 2020
Acting on Our Values
Diversity. Equity. Inclusion Initiatives.
Our mission of bringing care to underserved communities took on new urgency during the COVID crisis, which revealed, in stark and heartbreaking ways, the stunning inequities in health care access and delivery.
ACTIVATING CHANGE THROUGH INTENTIONAL VOICES FOR EQUITY (ACTIVE)
This summer we launched a new task force, Activating Change Through Intentional Voices for Equity (ACTIVE), dedicated to examining race, social injustice, and health care equity from the inside out.
WHAT’S NEXT
ACTIVE'S 2021 Agenda will center on four key initiatives:
1. Partner with the Whitman-Walker, a federally qualified health center in the nation’s capital, to adapt our unique patient support and navigation to the LGBTQ population.
2. Expand our innovative cancer treatment and navigation program first developed for the Navajo Nation in Tuba City, Arizona to an American Indian family clinic in Montana.
3. Connect Black and African American cancer patients with peer specialists to encourage greater participation in clinical trials.
4. Develop a clearinghouse for health-equity research, programming, and training—the Center for Health Equity in Oncology.
Health equity, diversity, inclusion will become a part of the fabric of CSC in a way that hasn't existed before now.
Eucharia Borden
MSW, LCSW, OSW-C, FAOSW
Senior Director of Health Equity and Clinical Services
Multiple Myeloma in Communities of Color
As part of our mission to foster greater Black participation in clinical trials, CSC met last August with Black and African American patients and caregivers living with multiple myeloma.
Dr. Craig Cole of Michigan State University’s Breslin Cancer Center (and CSC board member) discussed the incidence of multiple myeloma among African Americans and the importance of clinical trial participation. He also offered tips on how to effectively communicate with health care providers on this important topic. Attendees shared their lived experiences with this disease and later took part in focus groups that explored barriers to clinical trial participation.
risk factors associated with disparities
The scope of the problem. The CDC has identified racism as a serious public health threat that exacerbates all other risk factors contributing to health care disparities in underserved communities.
https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/disparities