Collaborations with cancer control programs – 8/25/10

Q: The Montana Tobacco Use Prevention Program is looking for additional ways to collaborate with the Cancer Control Program. The two programs already collaborate in a few areas. What are some specific activities or campaigns that other tobacco prevention programs are implementing with their cancer control programs?

A:

1. Alabama: The Comprehensive Cancer Control Program is one of our strongest partners in Alabama. We serve on each other's planning committees and state coalitions. Our Comprehensive Cancer program obtained supplemental funding to address statewide smoke-free policy which they granted to our Coalition for a Tobacco Free Alabama. We also helped write another response to a recent RFP for a Comprehensive Cancer policy coordinator to address tobacco policy (5 year, competitive funding from CDC). Our Area Tobacco Control Coordinators support Comprehensive Cancer initiatives by providing information for smoke free homes, petitions to support smoke free policies and quitline services at cancer control events. We also provide progress reports that address state Comprehensive Cancer Plan tobacco objectives on a quarterly basis. We also use Cancer Registry tobacco related cancer morbidity and mortality data to identify geographic areas that have the greatest need for tobacco control efforts. (Our state doesn't have county level-tobacco prevalence data for adults through BRFSS.) Most recently, the Director of the Comprehensive Cancer Program participated in our Advocacy Conference. She also sent out information about the conference to her coalition and partners.
    
2. Arizona: In March, 2009 we merged the bureaus of tobacco and chronic disease to ensure maximum integration. Since then, we have integrated our tobacco cessation and marketing efforts with the Arizona Cancer Control Program, brought the major statewide coalitions together, and are currently striving to launch integrated public policy initiatives.
    
3. Hawaii: One way to work with the cancer programs would be on increasing the tobacco tax. Another would be to promote quitting among persons during cancer screening programs. The local American Cancer Society was part of our state coalition that has been at the forefront of most all of our legislative efforts.
    
4. Indiana: Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation is a member of the Indiana Cancer Consortium which is staffed by the cancer control program. The new 2014 cancer control plan incorporates many objectives that are outlined in the 2015 tobacco control strategic plan through our work with the consortium and program. ITPC also has staff liaisons with different committees of the Cancer consortium.
    
   In addition, ITPC recently collaborated with the cancer control program in writing the supplemental cancer grant to CDC with a focus on smoke free air policy and tobacco taxes, efforts which support both state plans.
    
5. Michigan: We have had a very good partnership with our Cancer Control area for quite some time. Below please see a number of ways in which we collaborate:
    
   • The Tobacco Section holds monthly webinars on various tobacco-related topics. The Cancer Control program markets our webinars in their monthly Michigan Cancer Consortium (MCC) newsletter.
      
   • The MCC has adopted a tobacco special project as part of their 5 year strategic plan having to do with training healthcare professionals on tobacco treatment strategies in order to reduce the burden of tobacco related cancers. As such, they invited us to speak/train at last year's MCC Annual Meeting; specifically, we offered two separate training "tracks" at the meeting for MCC members.
      
   • The MCC website contains a whole section of tobacco-related information titled "The Michigan Providers Tobacco Cessation Toolkit." We work with Cancer Control to continually update and enhance the information located here.
      
6. Nebraska: Our program has been part of the Nebraska Comprehensive Cancer Control statewide partnership since the inception of the organization. Tobacco Free Nebraska participated in developing the state plan. Our program is now involved in implementing the state plan by working together to promote tobacco use cessation, promoting the tobacco cessation quit line and eliminate Nebraskans’ exposure to the harmful effects of secondhand smoke in the workplace and other public places with the passage of LB395 – the Nebraska Clean Indoor Air Act.
    
   We have supported the Nebraska Comprehensive Cancer Control Program (NE CCCP) by participating on the advisory committee, participating in cancer conferences and other meetings, offering educational activities to raise awareness about cancer, serving on the tobacco work group or other ways. Tobacco Free Nebraska continues to support the NE CCCP in implementing their state plan and providing technical assistance and support on tobacco issues. Other collaborative efforts have included the hosting of three women, tobacco and cancer summits and working on the C-Change Initiative.
    
   One of the summits in Western Nebraska has spun off to an annual Latino Women’s conference. These summits focused on tobacco use among women and the effects of cancer on them, family, and community. Another summit led to the development of an educational DVD featuring a woman who was diagnosed with lung cancer and her story up to her death. “The Kathy Black Story” has been widely used in Nebraska.
    
7. South Dakota: The South Dakota Tobacco Control Program is the tobacco workgroup for the Comprehensive Cancer Control (CCC) Program in our state. The Tobacco Control Program Director is one of two co-chairs for that workgroup. The CCC Program holds an annual meeting, and we share program updates and progress on the four NTCP goals in our state.
    
   The Cancer Programs Director and the Tobacco Control Program Director are two of five Team Leaders in the Office of Health Promotion at the South Dakota Department of Health. We hold bi-weekly Team Leaders meetings and update each other on new projects, challenges, opportunities and priorities within our program areas and work collaboratively to improve the health and well-being of all South Dakotans.
    
8. Washington: Washington State’s Tobacco Prevention and Control Program has been part of the Comprehensive Cancer Coalition called Washington CARES for a number of years. The tobacco prevention and control program is most active on the prevention subcommittee.
   
   Currently, the tobacco prevention and control program’s efforts to integrate cessation into mental health and chemical dependency treatment are being supported by the comprehensive cancer prevention committee by the committee hosting a cessation forum in conjunction with the upcoming co-occurring disorders conference this October. The prevention subcommittee is also seeking private partners to lend financial resources to that summit. The subcommittee has written a grant to the Partnership for Prevention to support the effort. Although this grant was not funded, the subcommittee intends to submit further grants to support tobacco cessation efforts. By using the American Cancer Society as fiscal agent and having committee members unaffiliated with state or local government, we have been able to overcome bureaucratic hurdles that would be problematic to navigate from having Department of Health do the same work.
   
   In our most recent prevention subcommittee, the Department of Health’s Healthy Communities efforts were shared with members and the committee intends to look for ways to engage potential stakeholders in those communities to lend support to the policy efforts in identified healthy community recipients to prevent chronic disease, including cancer. Currently there are five county local health jurisdictions participating in the program with another seven starting capacity-building work in January.

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