Colorectal Cancer Awareness

In 2004, HAAP, in continuing to expand its efforts, took on the Colorectal Cancer (CRC) Awareness Project through the sponsorship of the Michigan Department of Community Health. The goal of this project was to increase knowledge about colorectal cancer and awareness of the importance of early detection through simple screening programs such as the Fecal Occult Blood Test (FOBT), sigmoidoscopy, and colonoscopy. For the first year, the project was mainly concentrated in the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean communities. In the second year, HAAP expanded the project to include the Asian Indian, Filipino, Hmong, and Vietnamese communities, with particular efforts to reach the Hmong population.

Through hosting one hour interactive seminar, HAAP reached out to many Asian Americans by educating them about colorectal cancer and encouraging them to get screenings. Most importantly, through the use of newspapers and other media, HAAP has increased colorectal cancer awareness to more than 5,000 Asian American community members. The CRC program also provided free FOBT screening kits for those who were at risk for colorectal cancer. Thus far, over 200 FOBT kits have been purchased and 90 participants have been screened.

If you would like additional information on the colorectal cancer screening project, please refer to the current project: MCRCSP.