The partnership, sealed with a memorandum of understanding in a ceremony at the center, aims to expand the UC Davis WeCARE! Breast Cancer Peer Navigator Program into Butte, Sierra, Nevada and Plumas counties and increase the awareness and presence of Komen for the Cure.
Donna R. Sanderson, executive director of Komen's Sacramento Valley affiliate, called the partnership an "example of everybody winning" that could become a national model.
"We have needs in rural communities. UC Davis has the navigator program," she said. "We thought if we married our programs, the peer navigators could take care of some of our volunteers' needs in the rural communities and some of our volunteers might become peer navigators themselves. All the women and their families in rural communities win."
The collaboration will allow the two entities to recruit and train volunteer breast cancer survivors to support newly diagnosed breast cancer patients through the first several months of treatment. Komen plans to use the partnership to attract more "ambassadors" for its local outreach efforts.
The two groups also will work together to raise funds, host educational activities, collaborate on population-based studies on cancer prevention, control and care and explore additional services to improve the quality of life for breast cancer patients and survivors in those communities.
Marlene von Friederichs-Fitzwater, director of the Outreach Research and Education Program at UC Davis Cancer Center, said the relationship grew out of a recognized need for support in rural counties where mammography screening rates are poor and breast cancer incidence rates are among the highest in the state.
The WeCARE! Breast Cancer Peer Navigator program, funded with a grant from the Safeway Foundation, has established a robust presence in the Sacramento region the past two years, providing one-on-one support to women in the first days, weeks and months after a breast cancer diagnosis, as well as training to women two years out of treatment, to provide the peer support.
"Many of our patients who receive care here go back to their rural communities and don't have the resources they need," von Friederichs-Fitzwater said. "By recruiting survivors in those communities and training them, our patients will have support when they go back home. Our specially trained peer navigators will help them identify the resources they need during treatment and through their transition to survivorship."
The Sacramento Valley affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure raises funds for research, education, screening and patient-support programs. Komen for the Cure is the largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activities in the world, investing nearly $1 billion in the fight against breast cancer.
UC Davis Cancer Center is the only National Cancer Institute-designated center serving the Central Valley and inland Northern California, a region of more than 6 million people. Its top specialists provide compassionate, comprehensive care for more than 9,000 adults and children every year, and offer patients access to more than 150 clinical trials at any given time. Its innovative research program includes more than 280 scientists at UC Davis and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The unique partnership, the first between a major cancer center and national laboratory, has resulted in the discovery of new tools to diagnose and treat cancer. Through the Cancer Care Network, UC Davis is collaborating with a number of hospitals and clinical centers throughout the Central Valley and Northern California regions to offer the latest cancer-care services. For more information, visit cancer.ucdavis.edu.