CANCER

PREVENTION

GOES THE

DISTANCE

Texas Tech Health El Paso’s outreach programs have expanded to 105 underserved rural communities across West Texas

By Leonard Martinez

Over the past decade, Texas Tech Health El Paso has saved lives through various cancer prevention programs organized under the Foster School of Medicine’s Department of Family and Community Medicine.

These community outreach programs – BEST, De Casa en Casa, SuCCCeS, and Tiempo de Vacunarte – have been generously supported by millions of grant dollars from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. Thanks to this support and community partnerships, these programs have expanded their reach to 105 counties across West Texas, providing no-cost screenings and tests to thousands in distant, rural communities.

“Cancer prevention outreach is critically important for our Hispanic-majority Borderplex, which has disparities in incidence and mortality of certain cancers, compared to the rest of Texas,” said Jennifer Molokwu, M.D., director of Texas Tech Health El Paso’s Cancer Prevention and Control division. “With evidence-based practices, our programs aim to help close these disparity gaps.”

  • El Pasoan Gloria Sanchez believes she is alive today because of the Breast Cancer Education, Screening, and Navigation Program. Following a screening in January 2022, she was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer and began treatment at Texas Tech Physicians of El Paso.

    “If it wasn’t for the screening, my cancer would have grown,” she said. “It’s still going to be a fight, but I’m able to fight back before it grows.”

    Known by its abbreviation, BEST plays a pivotal role in the fight against breast cancer, the leading cause of cancer death in Hispanic women in El Paso County and throughout Texas. It’s also the second-leading cause of cancer death in non-Hispanic white Texas women.

    Originally launched in El Paso and Hudspeth Counties in 2013, BEST now extends its reach to 105 counties across West Texas. It has provided over 4,000 mammograms to at-risk women.

    Thanks to the BEST program, Sanchez was welcomed as a special guest at Texas Tech Health El Paso’s Lighting Campus for Hope holiday celebration in December. She took center stage with other cancer warriors who shared their experiences.

  • After receiving a cervical cancer diagnosis, El Pasoan Martha Hilda Garcia Hernandez fell into a deep depression. She struggled to talk about her condition with her family. Her doctor referred her to the De Casa en Casa program, where she was assigned a senior outreach worker and patient navigator, Marisela Cottrell, M.A.

    “She helped me so much. Marisela would go to my house and talk to us and educate me about the disease,” Hernandez said. “She would even drive me several times to my appointments because my son works, and he’s the only one I have here who can drive me.”

    Hernandez isn’t alone.

    Cervical cancer incidence and mortality rates in the program’s service area are high, with an average incidence rate of 12.6 per 100,000 – almost double the national rate of 7.7 per 100,000.

    De Casa en Casa was established in 2014 to help reduce the incidence of cervical cancer in our Borderplex through education and no-cost Pap tests and screenings for uninsured and underinsured residents.

    Today, De Casa en Casa reaches 61 Texas counties and has provided patient care and navigation services to more than 33,000 women. Among them, over 7,200 have successfully completed screenings, while over 550 women have undergone advanced diagnostic tests and treatments to prevent abnormal lesions from becoming cancer.

    Twelve women have been successfully navigated through the health care system after being diagnosed with cancer. With a recent CPRIT grant, De Casa en Casa expects to provide 4,000 cervical cancer screenings over the next five years, helping women like Hernandez face their fears and heal.

    “Before, I couldn’t even say that word, ‘cancer,’” Hernandez said. “My sisters would ask me, and all I could do was cry and say it was ‘a disease.’ Now when I’m asked about it, I can say, ‘I have cancer, and I’m on treatment.’ That’s why De Casa en Casa’s support has been so important. Thank God.”

  • The Southwest Coalition for Colorectal Cancer Screening, known as SuCCCeS, was established in 2011 to address high rates of colorectal cancer in El Paso County through education, no-cost screenings, and diagnostic testing. Today, SuCCCeS covers a 27-county area across West Texas.

    The program is targeted to uninsured and underinsured 45 to 75-year-olds in these counties. The SuCCCeS program has lived up to its name, with participants having completed 22,100 screening kits. Additionally, SuCCCeS has helped patients navigate through 375 screening colonoscopies and 600 diagnostic colonoscopies.

  • Tiempo de Vacunarte (Time to Get Vaccinated) was launched in 2015 to reduce the incidence of HPV-related cancers, particularly cervical and oral cancer, in our Borderplex. The program includes no-cost HPV vaccinations, educational sessions and social media messaging.

    The program has since expanded to nine West Texas counties, with a focus on underserved and rural communities along the U.S.-Mexico border. To date, nearly 2,000 uninsured or underinsured individuals age 9 to 45 have completed an HPV vaccine series.