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Florida
Disparities Program Successfully Reaches Older, Minority Adults With Education and Screening Services
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Public Health Problem
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in Pinellas County, Florida, claiming an estimated 2,660 lives each year. The average age of county residents is 43 years. A large segment of the population comprises winter residents and retirees. The ethnicity is approximately 86% white, 9% African American, and 5% Hispanic.
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Program Example
With grant funding from the Florida Department of Health, the Pinellas County Health Department
has implemented the Growing Older Well (GrOW) Project to reduce health disparities
among county residents aged 45 years or older. The project helps provide access to lung, colorectal, and prostate cancer education and screening. Screening for prostate cancer is focused on African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and Pacific Islanders. To make these services available to minority men and women, the GrOW Project reaches out into the community
through churches, grocery stores, beauty parlors, barbershops, schools, self-service laundries,
and other local venues.
During April 2005, the GrOW Project and two partnering organizations�All Nations Community
Association and Community Health Centers of Pinellas�provided health education and screening services through classes and events held at 14 community sites in 4 minority locales. A door-to-door educational campaign was also conducted among the Asian Hmong population
in Pinellas Park. Eleven of the events were well-publicized, targeting entire communities. A total of 1,745 persons (705 men and 1,040 women) participated in the classes and events, including 980 African Americans, 119 Hispanics, 152 Asians or Pacific Islanders, and 494 whites. Services delivered included the following:
- Educational information relating to colorectal
cancer, healthy eating, and healthy living was provided to 1,153 men and women.
- Fecal occult blood testing kits were distributed
to 34 persons.
- Education about prostate cancer was presented
to more than 1,100 people (457 men and 696 women).
- Prostate-specific antigen tests were provided
to 13 men.
Additional targeted events have been held since April. By the end of the 2004�2005 fiscal year, at least 1,203 men will have received access to screening and education for prostate cancer, and at least 292 men and women will have received screening and education for colorectal cancer.
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Implication and Impact
The Pinellas County Health Department's GrOW Project is reaching a large percentage of the minority population in Pinellas County. An important
contributor to this success has been the assistance
received from "champions," individuals who have arisen in the community to serve as mentors and role models in promoting health education
and screening among minority residents. One mentor, a 10-year prostate cancer survivor, recently traveled to Washington, D.C., to advocate
for increased funding for prostate cancer research, screening, and follow-up care.
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Contact Information
Comprehensive Cancer Control Program*
Bureau of Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Florida Department of Health
4052 Bald Cypress Way, Bin A18
Tallahassee,
FL 32399-1744
(850) 245-4444 Ext. 3809
Fax: (850) 414-6625
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service to our users. These links do not constitute an endorsement of these organizations or their
programs by CDC or the federal government, and none should be inferred. The CDC is not responsible
for the content of the individual organization's Web pages found at these links.
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