The Albemarle Foundation has donated $200,000 each year for five years—or $1 million—to help the Mary Bird Perkins-Our Lady of the Lake Cancer Center expand its community education and early detection cancer program to the corporate world.
As Business Report details in a feature from the current issue, a six-month pilot program will kick off the new initiative, tentatively called the Corporate Access Program, at three local companies: Albemarle, Lipsey’s wholesale firearms distributor, and Forte & Tablada, an engineering and land surveying firm.
The pilot program will provide onsite cancer screenings, risk assessments and education seminars to employees at the three companies. During that time, the cancer center will use focus groups and feedback from corporate participants to help shape the program.
“We are confident it will save lives,” says Todd Stevens, president and CEO of Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center. “With so much good happening in cancer research right now, we want to connect people with that.”
A major component of the program, in addition to the screenings, is cancer prevention education and awareness, because even when employees have great health care they don’t always use it to get screened or take precautions.
“It’s an education process, and people are busy,” says Sandra Holub, executive director of the Albemarle Foundation. “It’s hard to go to the doctor even when you don’t feel good.”
Renea Duffin, vice president of cancer support and outreach at the cancer center, says that when giving education seminars at companies and in the community, she has been surprised by how much people don’t know about cancer prevention.
“A lot of people have misconceptions about what’s involved,” Duffin says, adding that many don’t know just how simple cancer screenings can be.
In a state like Louisiana, the outreach is badly needed. The state ranks fourth in the nation in cancer mortality rates.
Lipsey’s has already hosted an education seminar and a skin cancer screening at its Baton Rouge location. Although employees have access to health care, Aronson says, only a few would likely get screened on their own if it were not for the onsite program.
“The best part of having the screening done is they come here to our own doorstep,” she says. “The accessibility and convenience is just an invaluable benefit. I think it will make an enormous difference.”
If the program proves successful throughout the pilot phase, the cancer center plans to expand it to other interested companies. As time goes on, workplaces will hopefully become healthier, more productive environments, Duffin says.
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