Community Outreach and Engagement ABSTRACT: The primary Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center (SKCC) catchment area is defined as within a 1- hour drive of the integral academic site, derived from both our obligation as a safety net hospital for Philadelphia and from whence the vast majority of our patient base arises. The catchment area consists of a 4-county area (Philadelphia, Montgomery, Delaware, and Camden), containing some of the most challenged populations in PA, NJ, and the nation. As described below, SKCC defined health challenges, barriers to care, and cancers that are overly prevalent and/or show markedly increased mortality as compared to the two states and the nation. Patients on government assistance constitute ~50% our patient base, wherein underserved populations (with regard to income, low education, and ethnicity) are prevalent. SKCC Programs were aligned to prioritize cancer problems of the catchment area, and research projects address needs for improving education, prevention, detection, and management within the catchment area. Rigorous outreach programs have been employed to enhance cancer awareness, care, and outcomes. In the last funding period, SKCC initiated and completed a large Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA), which allowed SKCC to deeply understand the health and cancer-associated challenges of our population. While the SKCC catchment area will be significantly expanding over the next funding period (as a result of rapid expansion of the Jefferson Health system into new geographies), we are already prepared to duplicate CHNA assessment in these new areas, which will be incorporated into future analyses of SKCC research and outreach priorities. As discussed in this section, SKCC has already expanded clinical trial activity outside the current catchment area into newly acquired, wholly owned sites of care and our 25- member SKCC Network affiliate program. The current and future catchment area is expected to cover the lives of 16,000 new cancer patients per year, based on tumor registry data. In addition to current focus on our primary catchment area, SKCC has begun to anticipate the near future expansion of a developing secondary catchment area, resulting from: 1) Construction of the new SKCC Asplundh Cancer Center in the northeast Philadelphia; 2) Acquisition of 5 additional hospitals, formerly the Abington and Aria Health Systems; 3) Planned incorporation of the Kennedy Health Systems in New Jersey with Jefferson Health; and 4) Expansion of our SKCC Network of independently owned affiliates through which outreach mechanisms are deployed, and clinical trials are opened. Dr. Knudsen oversees the cancer research and clinical care programs throughout the growing Health System, thereby providing critical opportunities for outreach, dissemination of knowledge to health professionals, and enhanced recruitment to clinical studies within the catchment and beyond. In the coming funding period, focus will remain on the primary catchment area, and expectations for the secondary catchment area will be developed.
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