Office of Minority Health

Grantee Information

Organization: Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan, Inc.

Organization Address: 2956 Ashmun Street, Suite A, Sault Sainte Marie, MI 49783

Phone Number: 906-632-6896 ext. 107

Fax Number: 906-632-1810

Organization website URL (if any)]: http://www.itcmi.org/

Brief Description of the Organization: The inter-Tribal Council of Michigan (ITCM) is a 501C (3) nonprofit consortium of 12 federally recognized tribes in Michigan. The mission of ITCM is to advocate for member tribes in the development of programs and policies which will improve the economy, education, and quality of life for Michigan’s American Indians and to provide technical assistance to member tribes, assisting in the development of tribal regulations, ordinances, and policies applicable to health and human services.

Grant Project Information

Title of Grant Project: Tribal Colon Cancer Screening Project

Amount of OMH Award: $199,999

Name of Project Director: Noel Pingatore

Phone Number of Project Director: 906-632-6896 ext. 107

E-mail Address of Project Director:noelp@itcmi.org

Abstract

Among Michigan American Indian communities, cancer-and colorectal cancer in particular-remains a top public health priority due to well-documented disparities in incidence and prevalence of cancer even among people younger than 50 years of age. The Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan, Inc. will work to address colorectal cancer through the implementation of data-driven, culturally-tailored, evidence-based strategies. These strategies will directly address the Healthy People 2020 Leading Health Indicator of Clinical Preventative Services, specifically, adults who receive a colorectal cancer screening based on the most recent guidelines. The project will build infrastructure to support implementation of a comprehensive set of culturally tailored evidence based interventions designed to yield high impact and reduce health disparities. Objectives include developing a health disparities profile, training and employing Tribal Patient Navigators, training staff to utilize Quality Improvement Processes; training tribal health providers on assessing individual risk and adjusted screening recommendations and implementing a comprehensive set of culturally tailored evidence based interventions and publishing the results. The grantee will work with three federally recognized Michigan tribes located in geographic hotspots for colon cancer. These three tribes include: The Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, the Bay Mills Indian Community, and the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe.

To reach the goals, the grantee plans to conduct these activities:

• Community outreach: education and information dissemination on health disparities, colon cancer prevention and screening guidelines;
• Strategic action planning: to identify and carry out evidence based strategies that address contributing factors and establishment of formal partnership agreements;
• Train and employ patient navigators to carry out selected evidenced based strategies such as small media, individual health education, patient reminders, monthly provider performance assessment and feedback;
• Implement formal QI methods to improve clinical and community based strategies;
• Share ways to improve coordination, collaboration, and linkages among state, tribal, and local partners through learning collaborative;
• Cooperative epidemiological studies to improve registry data;
• Dissemination of evaluation finding of effective strategies to community leaders and in professional literature.

The expected outcomes of the project include increased availability of accurate information about health disparities and recommended colon cancer screening guidelines, increased knowledge/awareness of cancer health disparities and recommended colon cancer screening guidelines, and increased system improvements to reduce barriers for AI/AN people seeking health care services (navigator program, policy and system changes in tribal health centers).

The program evaluation will follow CDC’s Framework for Program Evaluation in Public Health. Overall, the evaluation will study both processes of implementing the targeted strategies and the outcomes of this effort. The process and outcome measures evaluated will feed into Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) efforts to improve existing efforts to decrease colon cancer rates through improved/increased colon cancer screening rates.

The performance measures used by the grantee are as follows:

• Number of Health Disparities Profiles to be completed within six months of award;
• Number and nature of education/outreach activities conducted (e.g. print/broadcast/social media campaigns outreach events);

• Number of individuals attending educational/outreach activities and events;
• Number of people reached for print/broadcast/social media campaigns;
• Number/percent of individual program participants with increased awareness and knowledge of colon cancer and how to address it as a result of OMH-funded program participation;
• Number of formal partnerships established to implement project activities;
• Number of FTE or grant project staff supported with OMH funding;
• Number of grantee/partner agencies with strategic planning processes;
• Number of OMH funded projects/programs/initiatives that contribute toward each objective;
• Amount of $ and staffing resources leveraged at grantee level and project level;
• Number of training and TA events;
• Number of trainings and TA participants;
• Number of evidence-based practices on colon cancer screening and prevention identified to inform planning and evaluation of minority health/health disparities efforts and systems;
• Number of individuals receiving screenings and referrals/linkages to support screening and treatment services;
• Number of individuals participated in OMH funded cancer prevention activities per year;
• Number of Healthy People 2020 objectives being addressed;
• Number of Healthy People 2020 sub objectives not making progress or moving away from targets;
• Number of completed comparisons of baseline data on the targeted Leading Health indicator to show changes in the health disparity;
• Number of presentations and publication of articles, data and other related materials that document project outcomes.

NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP FOR ACTION TO END HEALTH DISPARITIES GOALS

None identified by grantee.

RELATED HEALTHY PEOPLE 2020 OBJECTIVES & SUBOBJECTIVES

• C-16: Increase the proportion of adults who receive a colorectal cancer screening based on the most recent guidelines.