The Eastern Maine Medical Center's Cancer Program has a fine reputation for attending to the needs of the patient with cancer in Maine's northern and eastern regions. We still need, however, to address a mortality rate higher than the national average in this sparsely populated area of the northeast which has suffered a very poor economy compared to the nation as a whole. This program will continue to be centered around a cohesive multidisciplinary medical team based in a well-established Tumor Clinic and its associated Radiation Therapy Center. Its network of affiliated community cancer clinics has expanded to six since the Community Clinical Oncology Program grant award in 1983, and there are plans to add a seventh. The northernmost part of the state has not had, thus far, the advantage of association with a National Cancer Institute-sponsored program of this type and this deficiency will be addressed by affiliation with a successful network of cancer clinics in Aroostook County which has had, on its own, a solid relationship with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute for several years. Our goals is to continue increasing accrual to NCI-sponsored cancer treatment protocols and, now that our oncology staff is increased, also to lend our combined expertise to efforts in early detection and prevention of cancer in this underserved area.
