Q&A
MSK's cancer prevention and community outreach efforts
1:13:00
·
3 min
Council Member Julie Menin inquires about Memorial Sloan Kettering's proactive efforts in cancer prevention and addressing health disparities in the surrounding community and New York City at large. MSK representatives discuss their various initiatives and partnerships.
- MSK has high-risk screening programs and partnerships with other hospitals for early detection
- The institution has an immigrant health and cancer disparities program with mobile screening units
- MSK is partnering with New York Health and Hospitals and other facilities to extend their reach and impact on reducing health disparities
Julie Menin
1:13:00
One question I do have.
1:13:02
You talked at length about the rising cancer rates, and obviously, people come to you when they are in need of treatment.
1:13:11
Are there things that you're doing proactively to prevent cancer within the surrounding community in New York City with large?
Selwyn Vickers
1:13:25
So number 1, we are We have high risk screening programs that we reach out both in the city and broadly.
1:13:32
We partner with an I should say, we have relationships with a number of other hospitals, particularly Jamaica, where we can look at early screening and detection.
1:13:42
And so, yes, we are trying to do that.
1:13:45
I would tell you that that process simply allows us to get the cancers earlier, but probably not necessarily prevent them in doing so.
Julie Menin
1:13:55
So you mentioned about the health disparities and the work that you've done personally and at MSK.
1:14:04
So what exactly is MSK doing to address the health disparities in in terms of being proactive.
1:14:12
You know, so for example, on the upper east side, we have many nitrile complexes.
1:14:19
Is MSK doing any work in and around those complexes?
1:14:23
Whether it be mammogram vans or other ways to do early detection since we all know, obviously, early detection saves lives.
1:14:32
So what proactively is MSK doing?
Selwyn Vickers
1:14:35
So we have an our immigrant health and cancer disparities program led by Fran Ganey.
1:14:44
It has a van that is actually actively looking at screening.
1:14:48
It looks for men for prostate cancer.
1:14:51
It looks works with taxi drivers.
1:14:54
It has programs with multiple ethnic groups as well to gain access.
1:14:59
One of the facts that we try to do in a significant way is partner with New York Health And Hospitals, as well as Jamaica, Largely because when patients who have disparities enter MSK, our data shows those disparities normalize.
1:15:16
They normalize in outcomes, and they normalize in clinical trial enrollment.
1:15:21
So that process is what we know actually reduces the disparities.
1:15:25
And so in this effort to really relate and partner with other facilities, it gives us a chance to extend beyond just what we can do alone in our current facility.
Julie Menin
1:15:37
Okay.
1:15:37
I'd love to see more detail about that because again, I think there's a lot of work that we need to do moving forward on that.
1:15:44
And I know our health care, I'm sure we'll have some questions on that as well.
Selwyn Vickers
1:15:47
Howard Bauchner: We're in the process now of resubmitting our core grant.
Jeffrey Drebin
1:15:52
Mhmm.
Roger McClean
1:15:52
And
Selwyn Vickers
1:15:52
that's extensive data on our community outreach efforts that we've done that we can get to you.
Julie Menin
1:15:58
Okay.
1:15:58
I know we've got a lot of people here who want to speak, so let me turn it back over to the chair.