National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program Awardee Highlight: Alabama

Alabama is ranked third in the nation when it comes to mortality for cervical cancer and that is unacceptable. There is no reason in our day today that any woman should die of cervical cancer. There's no reason it's a very very slow cancer to grow to start from HPV infection to cervical cancer development. It takes time. So lack of screening is definitely associated with it. The biggest misconception is they know it's a cancer, but I would say that the vast majority of women do not understand that it's highly preventable. Living in Alabama your entire life, you're always sort of told you're the you're the last. you're 49 of 50. You're at the low end of that list, whatever that list is. And when we came together, this we sort of said to ourselves, this is our opportunity to really uplift the people, the place, the structures that we know are already here and turn that that narrative around. What are the barriers to vaccination? and what are the barriers to getting screened, getting that papsmear and HPV test? What are the best strategies to get the tools we have in cervical cancer prevention control out to the populations experiencing a a burden of disease? We have to understand if we want to make a difference, we got to be practical. We got to be pragmatic about how we deliver this care. A major portion of the patients that have cervical cancer are in in rural areas. The problem with that is is that they don't trust healthcare. The only way I think that we can change a perception is to focus on meeting women where they're at. Meeting physicians where they're at and trying to understand them and then coming up with the solutions. That is the secret of wipeout. I know trust is going to take time. Being able to say we aren't here for any other reason. Our motive really is to bring this service to you. Very hard when you go to a county you have never been and say we're here because you're not doing great. But we didn't say like that. We engaged the local Rotary Club there to be the catalyst to do a lot of the mobilization activities. There are over 40,000 Rotary clubs in every community all over the world. And so when we jumped in with Operation Wipeout, one of the first things we did was pick up a phone and call the Rotary Club of Lefayet, Alabama in Chambers County. And they invited us to come and talk to them about Operation Wipeout and what could be done about cervical cancer in that county. The Rotary Club identified Dr. Butch Busby, a retired dentist that knew everybody. He was a former mayor of the town and had a lot of credibility. So he really start making a list and start taking us around lending his credibility to us and that was critical. My role as a leader in Operation Wipeout, I think, is to ensure that all of our partners realize how important they are and that what they bring to the table is imperative. From the get-go, we say this belongs to everybody and everyone has a role to play. That made a big difference because we're not competing with each other. Quite the opposite. We are complimenting each other. I can't say enough good things about the Alabama Department of Public Health. What they have done is truly amazing. This is a genuine state-based effort to understand how we get to a place where we're really on track to say that we're going to eradicate cervical cancer. When the partnerships are put together like Operation Wipeout was, where you're really coming at the problem from every angle and you have a lot of trusted partners who have all these connections in the communities, you can move so much more quickly. It is that commitment to partnership, to integrity, and to bringing all of the players together that continues to be the driving force around WIP. So for me to look like you matters. for my patients to look like their provider matters. For women to stand up and say we must take on this fight ourselves matters by the next decade. There is no reason why we can't eliminate cervical cancer in Alabama. Let's not let resources, politics, misunderstanding, lack of education be the reason why we can't aspire to that goal. Cancer touches all of us and this is this is the one that we get to completely wipe off the map. We really can do this. There's no reason why we can't. It's just a matter of saying it and then coming together and making it happen. And we've got a group that can make it happen.