Grant to help UF doctors deliver cancer care to needy Floridians

The University of Florida is one of three academic medical centers in Florida that will provide screening and care for colorectal cancer under a new $850,000 grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Only a minority of Floridians ever receives colon cancer screening," said Thomas George, M.D., director of UF's gastrointestinal oncology program and a member of the UF Shands Cancer Center. "We are targeting people with the most to gain. For them, this screening could mean the difference between life and death."

Colon cancer screening under the grant is targeted at those ages 50 to 64 with little or no health insurance coverage, said Susan Fleming, R.N., cancer program administrator with the Florida Department of Health. Shands at UF, along with grant partners Jackson Memorial Hospital at the University of Miami and Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, will provide follow-up care at no charge for any cancers detected in the screening.

Program organizers are working with local county public health units, the College of Medicine Equal Access Clinic and selected faculty practices to help identify people who may be eligible for the screening at UF.

The five-year program began July 1, 2009, and services are slated to begin Jan. 1.

Part of the grant funds will be used for colorectal cancer education and awareness. Other grant efforts will seek to identify the cultural, geographic and other barriers that can deter people from getting screened for colon cancer.

In 2009, colorectal cancer will claim about 50,000 lives in the United States, about evenly divided between men and women, according to the American Cancer Society. Florida colorectal cancer deaths during 2009 are estimated to be about 3,500.