The Hollings Cancer Center's numerous community projects and programs focus on reducing cancer rates and mortality by fostering wellness through education and outreach.

With an emphasis on ethnic disparities, Hollings advocates for better health policy addressing detection, diagnosis and access to care. We partner with local, regional, and statewide organizations to improve the health and lives of South Carolina residents.

Mobile Health Unit

The Hollings Cancer Center Mobile Health Unit is a 40-foot van designed to provide cancer screening, prevention education, early detection and health maintenance counseling. The mission of the unit is to reach adults (18 and older) living in target areas of South Carolina who have difficulties accessing health care and who are at risk of developing cancer.

Each year, the Mobile Health Unit provides more than 2,000 free or low-cost screenings.

Current screening services include:

• Breast health: mammograms
• Prostate health: digital rectal exam, PSA  
• Skin cancer: visual inspection of skin for suspicious moles or lesions
• Cervical health: PAP, pelvic exam
• Oral Health: exam of mouth and neck

Southeastern Virtual Institute for Health Equity and Wellness (SE View)

The Southeastern Virtual Institute for Health Equity and Wellness, or SE View, is a three-year, partnership with the Department of Defense. The purpose of this project is to address health disparities in the I-95 corridor counties of South Carolina through a community-based research and outreach service program.

Within the SC View project is a cancer-specific program led by Hollings called MOVENUP (Mobile Outreach Van, Educational and Navigational Health Services for Underserved Populations).

The program's goals are to:

• Provide mobile cancer screening and navigation services
• Provide cancer education and education related to nutrition and physical activity to communities in the I-95 Corridor
  
• Develop a cancer research training program with students from the following Historically Black Colleges and Universities:
  
  • Claflin University
    
  • SC State University
    
  • Voorhees College

South Carolina Tobacco Collaborative

The South Carolina Tobacco Collaborative (SCTC) is a statewide assembly of the leading health organizations, community coalitions, and businesses committed to reducing the toll of tobacco use in South Carolina by providing resources and information on tobacco related policies to advocates, lawmakers and concerned citizens.

This is a grant funded by the South Carolina Collaborative Community Partnership to provide smoking cessation classes in local communities. This is evidence-based, culturally sensitive tobacco cessation counseling training program targets ethnically diverse communities. Current smokers from Hispanic, African American and Native American communities will receive tobacco cessation training in the Tri-county area.

>> Learn more about the South Carolina Tobacco Collaborative

Patient Navigation Program

The Patient Navigation Program is a project funded by the Avon Foundation Inc. and is designed to ensure medically underserved patients have access to screening and follow-up breast care services. When it comes to accessing our health care system, many patients have tremendous barriers. This program helps patients overcome barriers and is the bridge to all treatment, ancillary, and community services. To provide a seamless system of care, we leverage our Avon-funded navigation program with other outreach efforts. In essence, the patient navigation program not only provides direct navigation services, but also serves as the delivery mechanism for other initiatives to include the Mobile Cancer Screening Services.

SUCCEED Legacy Project

Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2007, this project is a partnership between the MUSC Hollings Cancer Center, the Morehouse School of Medicine, Emory University and the University of North Carolina. The purpose of SUCCEED is to provide training and technical assistance to agencies and organizations throughout the region in evidence-based strategies to increase breast and cervical cancer screening among African Americans, and to evaluate study outcomes.

There are three on-going SUCCEED projects in South Carolina:

• The St. James-Santee Family Health Center, Inc.: The Black Corals Project
  
• The Brookland Foundation: The Color Pink Project in Columbia, SC; and
  
• The South Carolina Cancer Alliance (SCCA): The Witness Project
  

Cancer Education Guide (CEG) Train the Trainer Program

One of the best ways to disseminate accurate information about cancer, from prevention and screening through diagnosis and treatment, is to empower people to carry the messages into their communities.

Hollings and the South Carolina Cancer Alliance (SCCA) have developed a program called, Train the Trainer, a series of education seminars in medically underserved communities that teach local leaders, health professionals and advocates how to talk about cancer prevention, screening and early detection.

Hollings Cancer Center Summer Undergraduate Research Program

The goal of this project is to increase the number of minority students entering the field of cancer research. Students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities in South Carolina (Claflin University, SC State University and Voorhees College) have the opportunity to work with faculty members on the cutting edge of cancer research.

Students are placed with faculty members whose research is closely related to their students' academic interest and professional goals. Since 2007, more than 12 alumni fellows have completed the program.