CIS' bilingual services assist PHS prevention trial in Yakima

Thursday, April 18, 2002

Vol 8, Issue 8

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Photo by Clay Eals

Teri Martinez (left) and Rebecca Wharton

[This is part of a series of testimonials showcasing the Cancer Information Service, which recently relocated to the second floor of the new Yale Building on the Day Campus. For more information about CIS, stop by, send interdepartmental mail to J2-400 or call 1-800-4-CANCER.]

By REBECCA WHARTON and TERI MARTINEZ

Can the Cancer Information Service assist research at the center? The answer is an enthusiastic yes, and our project is an example.

Our project, the Community Randomized Trial of Hispanic Cancer Prevention, led by Drs. Beti Thompson and Gloria Coronado of the Public Health Sciences Division, develops and implements culturally appropriate education in 10 intervention communities in the Yakima Valley.

Because "the valley" is largely agricultural, monolingual Spanish-speaking and low income, many of its residents do not receive public health messages through traditional routes, such as English TV and newspapers and the Internet.

Since the CIS approached us almost two years ago to see how it could help us convey our educational messages, the CIS has been extremely helpful in identifying and providing us with Spanish and English materials that are relevant to our focuses on nutrition, tobacco prevention, and breast, cervical and colorectal cancers.

CIS Partnership Program staff have gone out of their way to develop a partnership with our project and even traveled to the Yakima Valley. During this visit, two CIS staff members, Elizabeth Pratt and Betsy Gilbert, gave a presentation to our field staff, and they observed one of our 'home parties" about breast and cervical cancer. Since then, the CIS staff have kept us notified of new materials and resources from the National Cancer Institute.

Perhaps the single most important resource to which the CIS introduced us is the 1-800-4-CANCER bilingual information line. From the time CIS staff told us of its existence, we have distributed several thousand 1-800-4-CANCER bookmarks to Yakima Valley residents.

There is no doubt that CIS and its bilingual resources have been a distinct asset to our project.

[Rebecca Wharton is a field-operations coordinator and Teri Martinez is a project coordinator for the Cancer Prevention Research Program of the Public Health Sciences Division.]

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