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- Posted Monday April 6, 2009
TGen joins Arizona Myeloma Network and other groups to promote cancer awareness for vast Navajo Nation
Outreach efforts by the Translational Genomics Research
Institute (TGen) extend to the far corners of Arizona.
For the second year, TGen will help organize a cancer awareness
conference for northeastern Arizona's vast Navajo Nation. The 2nd
annual Fort Defiance Cancer Awareness and Advocacy Conference,
sponsored by the Arizona Myeloma Network, is planned 8:30 a.m.-5
p.m. July 18 at the Navajo Nation Museum, Arizona 264 and Postal
Loop Road, in Window Rock.
The first conference in October was an unqualified success that
exceeded expectations, said Mechelle Morgan-Flowers, a nurse and
supervisor who works at the nearby Fort Defiance Indian
Hospital.
"The conference was more successful than I imagined it would be,"
said Morgan-Flowers, who has tended the health needs of the Navajo
Nation since 1996. "I think it was a great experience in bringing
awareness to healthcare providers and the public. This is
especially true for those people who do not live on the Navajo
Nation and who now have a better understanding of the obstacles our
patients face in obtaining care. We are hoping to continue the
momentum."
Members of the Navajo Nation often must travel hundreds of miles
round-trip to obtain medical treatment. With nearly 300,000 members
- most spread across 27,000 square miles of Arizona, New Mexico and
Utah - the Navajo people comprise the second largest Native
American population on the largest acreage of tribal lands in the
U.S. An estimated 40-50 percent of Navajos are unemployed, and most
live in poverty.
Nearly 250 people registered and participated in the October
conference, despite cold, wet and windy weather. Many private,
tribal and state groups set up booths and distributed literature
and information.
The upcoming conference, moved to summertime, will offer additional
discussion panels, a workshop about breast cancer prevention and a
seminar for cancer caregivers.
Barbara Kavanagh, founder and chief executive officer of the
Arizona Myeloma Network, which provides outreach and education
focused on this blood-plasma cancer that attacks the bone marrow,
also said the first conference succeeded beyond her dreams. She
described presentations in October as moving and significant.
"The enthusiasm was inspirational for all of the people who
attended," Kavanagh said, "from the faculty, to the cancer patients
and their families, the Navajo Nation community and tribal
government officials, Fort Defiance hospital staff and their
families, the family of Navajo dancers who's grandmother had
cancer, the students from Dine College, and even the woman who
catered our event, who between serving food all day, visited every
cancer resource booth to pick up booklets to take home to friends
and family in Tuba City."
Kavanagh praised as top-notch the presentation by Dr. Bodour
Salhia, a TGen post-doctorate fellow who is investigating breast
cancer and multiple myeloma in TGen's Integrated Cancer Genomics
Division. Dr. Salhia, who has helped organize both conferences,
made a presentation called: Basic Facts of Cancer and the New
Science.
"This conference, this entire mission, was really about empowering
people with knowledge; to enable them to become aware of their
bodies in a proactive way, and gain new insights about what modern
medicine has to offer," Dr. Salhia said. "It was a giant leap of
outreach from those of us who have become so passionate about
helping Navajo people suffering with cancer. I am thrilled to be
part of something that I believe will one day be of huge
impact."
The John Wayne Cancer Foundation, which helped sponsor the first
conference in October, has pledged $10,000 to fund the upcoming
conference in July. The foundation is named for the Academy
Award-winning actor who is famous for such movie classics as
Stagecoach and The Searchers, both filmed in the Navajo Nation's
Monument Valley. Kavanagh said the amount of the donation makes the
John Wayne Cancer Foundation the Arizona Myeloma Network's first
"Platinum Partner."
*
About the 2009 conference
What: Fort Defiance Cancer Awareness and Advocacy Conference.
Where: Navajo Nation Museum, Arizona 264 and Postal Loop Road,
Window Rock, Arizona.
When: 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. July 18.
Who: Open to the public.
Cost: Free.
Why: To help provide Arizona's Native Americans with a higher
awareness of cancer and greater access to medical care.
Details: www.azmyelomanetwork.org, or Barbara Kavanagh at
623-388-6837; or Mechelle Morgan-Flowers at 928-729-8024.
# # #
About the Arizona Myeloma Network
AzMN is a non-profit organization that provides outreach and
education for myeloma cancer patients, their families and
caregivers, with special consideration to underserved African
Americans, Asian-Pacific, Hispanic and Native American
communities.
About TGen
The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) is a
non-profit organization dedicated to conducting groundbreaking
research with life changing results. Research at TGen is focused on
helping patients with diseases such as cancer, neurological
disorders and diabetes. TGen is on the cutting edge of
translational research where investigators are able to unravel the
genetic components of common and complex diseases. Working with
collaborators in the scientific and medical communities, TGen
believes it can make a substantial contribution to the efficiency
and effectiveness of the translational process.
Press Contact:
Steve Yozwiak
TGen Senior Science Writer
602-343-8704
[email protected]
