Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in Michigan. We know that survival from colorectal cancer is directly related to the stage at which it is detected and that early detection through screening is an effective means of detecting colorectal cancer by identifying the disease at an early, curable stage.

As identified in Michigan’s cancer registry and other surveillance data, nearly one-third of the state’s 83 counties are designated as high mortality for colorectal cancer, meaning the mortality rates in those counties are greater than the overall rate for Michigan.

In October 2004, a one-year project was kicked off with three MCC member organizations, Chippewa Health Department, Genesee County Health Department and District #10 Health Department, to identify the barriers to early detection of colorectal cancer in their respective localities. The Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) and Michigan Public Health Institute (MPHI) funded the project with monies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in support of the MCC.

Each local health department (LHD) was chartered to initiate a collaborative and sustainable partnership with community stakeholders to assist them in the one-year project and to continue working together in subsequent years. With new and existing partners, each LHD completed a number of activities including:

• the identification of barriers to early detection of colorectal cancer;
• the implementation of one activity in the project year to address one barrier; and
• the development of a collaborative partner’s five-year action plan to address the remaining barriers identified in their county.

Qualitative results found that this data-driven, collaborative partnership project assisted the local health departments to build community capacity and awareness by placing colorectal cancer on their local public health agenda.

Slightly more than 84 percent of the partners participating in this project indicated the greatest impact that this collaboration has had on their organization was an increased awareness of community needs and assets around colorectal cancer. Almost 80 percent indicated they would continue to work in collaborative efforts related to colorectal cancer in their communities.

Download and view the report on this project (available as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file)*

*Please Note: You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open, view and print this file once it has been downloaded. If you need a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader, please click here.

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last updated: 06/14/06

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