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Michigan receives grant to improve quality, duration of life for cancer survivors

For Immediate Release: November 9, 2015

LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services was recently selected to receive a three-year, $341,000 per-year grant to improve cancer survivors’ quality and duration of life. Michigan was one of six states to receive the grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to work on cancer survivorship. The other states awarded include Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, South Dakota, and Washington.

A cancer survivor is a person diagnosed with cancer, from the time of diagnosis throughout the person’s lifespan. Michigan has an estimated 500,000 cancer survivors.

With the survivorship grant funding, MDHHS will address and include several specific, proven strategies in its work. These strategies include better use of data to increase understanding of the needs of cancer survivors and supporting the development of survivorship care plans.

“Survivorship care plans include information about the cancer treatment a person has received, the need for future check-ups and cancer tests, the potential long-term effects of the treatment that was received, and ideas for improving health,” said Dr. Eden Wells, chief medical executive for the MDHHS. “This funding will go a long way toward supporting survivors in all stages of life.”

Michigan will also work in the area of patient navigation to address barriers and assist people with a cancer diagnosis to ensure they receive needed treatment and follow-up services. Navigators guide patients through and around obstacles in health systems to help ensure timely diagnosis and treatment.

Additional efforts will seek to educate providers on guidelines for follow-up care for cancer survivors and increase awareness of proven practices and programs. These include tobacco cessation in cancer survivors, self-management programs, and immunizations for cancer survivors, such as influenza and pneumonia vaccinations, when medically indicated.

For more information about cancer prevention and control programs in Michigan, visit www.michigan.gov/cancer.  

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