BREAKING IT DOWN: Our Health Our Way

The Cherishing Our Hearts and Souls Coalition/Harvard School of Public Health partnership was chosen as one of three community-based partnerships nationwide to implement the Education Network to Advance Cancer Clinical Trials-Pilot Education Program (ENACCT-PEP). The COHS PEP is called Breaking It Down: Our Health Our Way. This three year initiative aims to raise awareness of cancer clinical trials and address barriers to patient participation in the Roxbury community through education, outreach, and partnership.

The Coalition’s interest in implementing the Pilot Education Program is based on:

• The Coalition’s longstanding interest in facilitating awareness, understanding, and acceptability of research by Roxbury residents
• Recent health outcome data that has identified cancer as the leading cause of mortality in Roxbury
• Roxbury is located five miles or less from some of the nation’s leading cancer research centers including Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, Boston Medical Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, New England Medical Centers, etc.

The Breaking It Down initiative is being implemented through the work and collaboration of the members of both the Leadership Committee and Planning Committee. The Leadership Committee is the smaller of the two groups, comprised of representatives from two COHS clusters (Health Promotion, and Clinical Care and Research clusters), two CRAB committees (Education and Training, and Community Outreach and Information Dissemination committees), the Prostate Health Education Network (PHEN), National Black Leadership Initiative on Cancer- Greater Boston Chapter (NBLIC), and the Boston Black Women’s Health Institute, Inc. (BBWHI). This committee convenes on a monthly basis to discuss the progress of the various activities areas of the initiative. The Planning Committee is comprised of various stakeholders in cancer information, treatment, and research activities that represent the Massachusetts State Department of Public Health, area hospitals, community health centers, advocacy groups, and community based organizations.