Louisiana
State Uses Regional Coalitions to Plan and Implement Comprehensive Cancer Control Priorities
On this page
Program Example
The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals divides the state into nine public health regions and the Louisiana Comprehensive Cancer Control Program has adopted this organizational structure. Half of the funds required to support five of the program's nine regional cancer control officers are provided by the Louisiana Cancer and Lung Trust Fund Board. Partnering organizations provide the remaining funds needed for these positions. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention furnishes one fourth of the funds needed to support two other regional officers plus half of the funds required for the final two officers (one of which is located in New Orleans, where one third of Louisiana's population resides). The Tobacco Free Louisiana Program is covering the remaining costs for three of these positions (the same staff person coordinates both tobacco and cancer control in three regions). Another funding stream from the Baptist Ministries provides the remaining support needed for the New Orleans officer. These funding partnerships ensure full cancer control program staffing throughout the state, and are excellent examples of leveraging scarce resources.
This regional cancer control infrastructure has enabled regions to develop working coalitions made up of providers, consumers, and community members. These coalitions have been charged with developing regional action plans. "Lead partners" are being recruited to ensure the completion of particular plan objectives, and all partners are being asked to contribute in some way to the accomplishment of their region's objectives.
Six of the regions completed their action plans by July 1, 2005, and the remaining three regions will complete their plans by October 1, 2005. Implementation of the plans is beginning as soon as the plans are completed. Structured evaluations, modeled after the evaluation used for Louisiana's statewide cancer control plan, will be in place for each regional plan by July 1, 2006.
Top of Page
Implication and Impact
Some regional coalitions have already completed cancer control activities such as prostate cancer education and screenings, colorectal cancer screenings, and policy changes relating to clean indoor air (clean indoor air policies were most recently instituted in Shreveport, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the state). None of these activities could have been accomplished in such a short period of time were it not for the regional coalitions. In regions where coalitions have been successful, there is now a history among private and public providers that will carry over into regional planning and implementation. Trust, faith, and dedication have been responsible for coalition success, along with the leadership provided by the Louisiana Comprehensive Cancer Control Program.
The regional planning and implementation process enables the burden of cancer control to be shared among coalition partners over time. While some partners may have more resources to bring to the table in the area of service delivery, others may be able to offer strengths relating to policy change. Both activities are vitally important to communities.
This burden sharing reaches far beyond governmental participants�it extends into the private sector at local levels. Sharing planning and implementation responsibilities strengthens any program. Shared planning and implementation in the field of comprehensive cancer control can grow existing programs that function independently into larger, coordinated efforts that can provide services to many more underserved individuals than their constituent programs could by operating in isolation from one another.
Top of Page
Contact Information
Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center
School of Public Health
PO Box 2018
Mandeville,
LA 70470
(504) 218-2389
Fax: (504) 218-2324
Top of Page
*Links to non-federal organizations found at this site are provided solely as a
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.
|
