CEO Update: Cancer Awareness Month

March is Cancer Awareness Month and you’ve likely seen all of the news surrounding Princess Kate and her announcement that she has cancer, alongside King Charles also undergoing cancer treatment.  Cancer unfortunately impacts so many people and is the leading cause of death in Colorado[1].  The top three most lethal cancers in Colorado are Lung and Bronchus, Colorectum, and Breast Cancer and we are one of ten states with the highest death rates for melanoma.  Many people within my family have faced many forms of cancer and I know how important it is to educate people on prevention, screening, and treatment options.

For many years now, CRHC has been collaborating with the Colorado Colorectal Cancer Screening program (CCSP) with Andi Dwyer to increase the screening and treatment rates for colorectal cancer in rural communities.  If you’d like to get involved, please let me know.  Data from CDPHE (2022) shows:

Mammogram within 2 years (females 50-74):

State: 71.14

Urban: 72.29

Rural: 63.47

Mammogram within 2 years (females 40-49):

State: 55.2

Urban: 57.9

Rural: 33.94 **significantly lower than state and urban estimates

Colorectal Cancer screening (50-75):

State: 65.5

Urban: 66.5

Rural: 59.3

CRHC’s Annual Forum is next week, April 3-5, 2024 and there is a presentation entitled “Behind the Scenes:  Panelists Stories on Implementing Colorectal Cancer Screening Program” and a presentation from the Rural Connectivity Program highlighting the dashboards available to rural facilities.  One of the dashboards available concerns Cancer.  If you aren’t involved in the Rural Connectivity Program let us know and we’ll get you started.  If you haven’t signed up to attend the Forum there’s still time! Click here to register.

[1] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/states/colorado/colorado.htm