A Brief Report Describing Cancer Outreach Events in the Rural Midwest

This brief report describes the findings of seven cancer prevention outreach efforts to rural locations in South Dakota and Minnesota with a specific focus on reaching agriculture workers and their families. The outreach events varied in size from a couple of hundred attendees to over 100,000 attendees. The purpose of these events also varied greatly from county fairs to health fairs. The goal of these outreach efforts was to connect with individuals in their communities in order to provide general cancer prevention and screening education and personalized cancer risk assessments. Methods used included one-on-one conversation between attendees and Avera Cancer Institute Navigation Center (ACINC) navigators as well as intake forms for individuals interested in personalized assessments. Findings showed the need for increased education on vulnerability to cancer and the need for cancer screenings. Moreover, findings indicated that smaller, focused, outreach events have the best outcomes in regards to the number of individuals directly receiving education on cancer screening and prevention.