Vermonters Taking Action Against Cancer | VTAAC

69th VTAAC Quarterly Newsletter

Vermonters Taking Action Against Cancer (VTAAC) provides a forum for collaboration, engagement and sharing of resources for individuals and organizations concerned about cancer in Vermont.

VTAAC Quarterly Newsletters share VTAAC news and resources, provide information on the progress of our current 2025 Vermont Cancer Plan, communicate meetings and events, and enhance statewide collaboration. 

For additional information or meeting details, please visit our website or reach out to Hanna at coordinator@vtaac.org.

On November 9th, 90 partners from across the state gathered in-person at The Essex Resort & Spa and virtually via Zoom for the 15th Annual VTAAC Annual Cancer Summit. Participants engaged with speakers around challenges, successes, and opportunities to advance research, prevention, detection, treatment, survivorship, and quality of life for Vermonters impacted by cancer.

You can find the summit recordings, speaker slide decks, coalition project highlights and more at www.vtaac.org/2023cancersummitrecording.

Thank you to our sponsors: Dartmouth Cancer Center, UVM Health Network, UVM Cancer Center and Northwestern Medical Center!

2023 VTAAC Impact Awards

Each year, VTAAC recognizes partners who have made extraordinary contributions to addressing cancer prevention, detection, treatment and/or survivorship. This year we honored three partners for their great work!

Kerry Goulette, Director of Quality, Risk & Compliance at the Community Health Centers of Burlington was awarded by Justin Pentenrieder (You First Program Manager) for her work utilizing new and innovative approaches to increase mammography screening, in non-English speaking patients.

Shyla Foss (left) and Gillian Shapiro (right) nominated each other for their sun safety prevention work, each going above and beyond to support their local parks & recreation and community partners. Gillian and Shyla awarded - and surprised - each other via Zoom! Gillian was the Chronic Disease Specialist in the Office of Local Health in Barre (she just transitioned to a new role at the Department of Mental Health!) and Shyla is the Chronic Disease Specialist in the Office of Local Health in Brattleboro.

In case you missed it! The Prevention & Detection Workgroup created an updated Cancer Screening Guide following USPSTF Cancer Screening Guidelines.

We hope this short infographic provides helpful information to be shared with patients, providers and the wider community.

Quality of Life

Workgroup

The Quality of Life Workgroup received some CDC supplemental funds for survivorship work last July. Through the support of VTAAC's external evaluators, Professional Data Analysts, the group has decided to use some of the funds to create a more robust Survivorship Resource Center on VTAAC's website. This will be a resource for all those impacted by cancer.

The group is currently in the process of deciding what information to include, how to gather the information, as well as the design of the resource page.

If you are interested in being a part of this project, please click the green button below to email Hanna Snyder, VTAAC Coalition Coordinator.

The Lung Cancer Screening Taskforce received additional funding through the American Cancer Society to participate in a lung cancer screening media awareness campaign. There were 15- and 30-second PSAs across four broadcast platforms that played 90 times per month. For the digital campaign, the click through rate (those that saw the lung cancer screening ad and clicked the link) was also above the national average.

Three hospitals participated in the National Lung Cancer Screening Day on Saturday, November 11: UVM Medical Center, Northwestern Medical Center (NMC) and Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital (CVPH in northern NY). UVM screened 40 patients, NMC screened 15 patients and NMC screened 13. All felt the day was a success and especially found the 802Quits materials useful.

If you're interested in being involved in future lung cancer screening projects, email Hanna.



Check out the Vermont Comprehensive Cancer Control Program Year 1 Annual Evaluation Report (2022-2023) by clicking the green button below. The Annual Evaluation Report shares key findings around the coalition structure, cancer plan, member engagement and more.

Prostate Cancer in Vermont

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second most common cause of cancer death among Vermonters assigned male at birth, led only by lung cancer.  

Data Source: Vermont Cancer Registry, 2016-2020



Despite it being the second most common cause of cancer death in Vermont, most men diagnosed with prostate cancer do not die from it as some cancers grow too slowly to be dangerous and other cancers, especially those caught early, have high survival rates.  Since this is the case, the United States Preventive Services Task Force recommends that undergoing a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test for prostate cancer screening should be an individual decision made only after discussing the advantages and disadvantages of the PSA-test with a provider; false positives are common and follow up diagnostic tests and/or treatment may have long-term adverse effects. 

Data Source: Vermont Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2020

The Vermont Cancer Plan addresses the low rate of men who have had this discussion with their provider and provides strategies to educate the public and providers on the screening recommendations. VTAAC will host a discussion around prostate cancer in early 2024 to support progress on reducing the burden of prostate cancer in the state. Please email Hanna out if you're interested in joining.

This winter, the UVM Cancer Center, in partnership with UVM Athletics, is raising awareness about cancer screening and prevention and celebrating cancer patients and cancer research through the UVM Cancer Center's Rally Against Cancer games. 

• Men’s Ice Hockey: Friday, January 26 vs. UNH @ 7:00 pm
• Men’s Basketball: Saturday, February 3 vs. Binghamton @ 2:00 pm
• Women’s Hockey: Saturday, February 3 vs. Holy Cross @ 6:00 pm
• Women’s Basketball: Thursday, February 8 vs. NJIT @ 6:00 pm

Cervical Cancer

Gallbladder and Bile Duct Cancer

Colorectal Cancer

Kidney Cancer

Multiple Myeloma