Redes En Acción: The National Latino Cancer Research Network is a National Cancer Institute-funded initiative to combat cancer among Latinos. Redes En Acción has built a national network of community-based organizations, research institutions, government health agencies and the public. Core activities include promoting training and research opportunities for Latino students and researchers, generating research projects on key Latino cancer issues, and supporting cancer awareness activities in Latino communities.
Redes Successfully Using Patient Navigation to Help Latinas Access Breast Health Services
Patient navigators aim to help “navigate” underserved Latinos through the often-complex healthcare system and remove barriers to timely, quality care.
Redes En Acción found that Latinas who have an abnormal mammogram result take 33 days longer to reach definitive diagnosis of breast cancer than non-Hispanic white women, which threatens their lives, according to a new study in SpringerPlus.
Redes En Acción also found that patient navigation can lead to faster diagnosis for Latinas after an abnormal mammogram result, according to a new study in the journal Cancer, also suggests that patient navigation should be carefully targeted to have the greatest impact on eventual health outcomes.
Based on these findings, Redes En Acción created A Patient Navigation Manual for Latino Audiences: The Redes En Acción Experience, a guide to help health organizations develop patient navigation services for Latinos. Check out the manual in English or Spanish.
The manual defines navigation, explains six steps to decide if navigation is right for an organization, and offers important considerations and templates for implementing a patient navigation program.
Redes Offers Training Videos
Redes En Acción has released three videos on cancer issues and research methods used to train Redes En Acción researchers and patient navigators in Miami and San Antonio and Austin, Texas, who are involved in a study examining how patient navigators who use the LIVESTRONG Cancer Navigation Services Program can improve the quality of life of Latino breast, colorectal and prostate cancer survivors.
The videos are designed specifically for the study, but the videos may be useful in any patient navigator studies involving Latinos.
Watch Video 1, Video 2 and Video 3 on YouTube.
Also Available Online . . .
- The 2012 Cancer Survivorship Telephone Workshop Series: On April 24th, CancerCare will present the first of a free, four-part telephone workshop series, The Tenth Annual Cancer Survivorship Series: Living With, Through & Beyond Cancer. Part II will take place on May 15th; Part III on June 19th; and Part IV on July 17th. These workshops are free - no phone charges apply. However, pre-registration is required. To register, and for more information, simply go to the CancerCare website, www.cancercare.org/connect.
- Redes Gets $5.6M Grant: After a decade of success in reducing Latino cancer through research, training and education, San Antonio-based Redes En Acción: The National Hispanic/Latino Cancer Research Network has received a $5.6 million grant from the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities to bolster and expand its cancer-fighting efforts. Read here.
- NSC Report 2010 Available: The report of the 10th Annual Redes En Acción National Steering Committee (NSC) Meeting is available for viewing. The meeting highlighted Redes' achievements in research, training and awareness over the past decade to help reduce cancer disparities among Latino populations. To view a video about Redes' 10 years of cancer control activities, go here. To view a copy of the 2010 NSC Report, go here.
- LAF Launches Spanish-Language Website: The Lance Armstrong Foundation recently launched www.livestrong.org/espanol to provide Spanish information on the common physical, emotional and day-to-day concerns of Hispanic/Latino cancer survivors.