Breast Cancer Partnership (BCaP)

Partnership co-leads: Donna Jeffe and Deb Custer

Partnership Updates

Originally launched in 2005, the Breast Cancer Community Partnership (BCaP)’s main goal has been to work towards eliminating breast cancer in the St. Louis region through multiple strategies, including community outreach and education, research, and training initiatives to address disparities in breast cancer prevention and survivorship. Under the guidance of co-chair and long-time PECaD supporter Debra Custer, BSHS, and co-chair Donna Jeffe, PhD, professor of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine, PECaD faculty and staff have successfully revitalized BCaP after its relaunch in November 2016. BCaP members continue to meet every month through zoom during the pandemic.

BCaP has grown this past year with new community partners attending its monthly meetings. New members include:

• Angela Knight, MSN Senior Manager, Patient Support Services & Breast Program, Siteman Cancer Center
• Helen Blair, Breast Navigator for Christian Hospital and Northwest Healthcare
• Tamara D. Otey, PhD, RN, Assistant Professor Goldfarb School of Nursing Barnes Jewish College
• Sarah Gaston, Patient Navigator, Gateway to Hope
• Kym Radford, Outreach Coordinator Center for Community Health Partnership and Research

Several BCaP member organizations, including The Breakfast Club, Pink Ribbon Girls, Gateway to Hope, The Pink Angels Foundation, Valeda’s Hope, and Komen Missouri, along with Washington University faculty (Vetta Thompson, Christine Ekenga, and Donna Jeffe) submitted a collaborative grant application last year in response to the American Cancer Society and Pfizer Global Medical Grants “Integrated Approach to Breast Health Equity Competitive Grant Program” request for proposals.

In this proposal, we sought to address significant disparities in breast cancer mortality between Black/African American (Black/AA) and white women.  Even without funding through this grant mechanism, BCaP and Siteman Cancer Center were able to address several of the objectives proposed in our application, and BCaP members have continued our collaborative, community-engaged efforts to reduce breast cancer health disparities in the St. Louis metropolitan area, and especially in North St. Louis County, where we continue to observe persistent health disparities.

The Breast Cancer Community Partnership strives to:

• Develop strategies to eliminate disparities in breast cancer, from prevention through survivorship.
• Support initiatives to improve access for uninsured and underinsured women seeking breast cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment services.
• Continue to advocate for the elimination of breast cancer disparities through representation on state and local advisory boards and by raising awareness of breast cancer disparities in collaboration with institutional and community partners.

• PECaD and Siteman representatives actively participate on several local boards and committees and with organizations that are dedicated to improving breast cancer care in St. Louis, including Show Me Healthy Women, the Missouri Cancer Consortium, the Missouri Cancer Registry, the St. Louis Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the Missouri Office of Minority Health.

• Identify, establish, and maintain community partnerships with the intent to build on current levels of trust, understand the needs and perspective of the community, and facilitate collaborations that will positively affect regional disparities in breast cancer screening, diagnosis, treatment and survivorship.
• Work with community stakeholders to develop quality-improvement and research projects that aim to understand breast cancer disparities and improve outcomes regionally and locally.

For more information about the partnership and specific projects, contact PECaD at [email protected]. Click here for more information on breast cancer.