PCHC Receives Maine Cancer Foundation Grant Award
Penobscot Community Health Care (PCHC) is pleased to announce a two-year grant award received from the Maine Cancer Foundation in the amount of $100,000 to support efforts to improve colorectal screening rates.
Colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of new cancer cases and cancer-related death in Maine. Screening is vital to prevention and successful treatment of this devastating disease. The considerable support of the Maine Cancer Foundation will allow PCHC to enhance current screening efforts and reach out to more patients, resulting in more patients obtaining colorectal screenings and therefore, more saved lives.
Noah Nesin, MD, Vice President of Medical Affairs, states, “Penobscot County is one of three Maine counties experiencing the highest cancer rates in our state and almost half of the deaths caused by cancer could be prevented by early detection via screening. As medical professionals, it is our responsibility to proactively address and reduce the health challenges for our patients. The best medicine we can practice is prevention and the support of the Maine Cancer Foundation helps PCHC do just that.”
Through the grant, PCHC plans to hire Medical Support Assistants to support our Outreach Medical Assistants. The Medical Support Assistant will perform critical administrative tasks freeing up PCHC’s Outreach Medical Assistants to effectively utilize their advanced training and expertise to spend more time on direct patient outreach and evidence-based interventions, impacting a greater number of patients. Additionally, this grant will also help support screening efforts for breast and cervical cancer.