UAMS to Sponsor Mississippi County Cancer Awareness Day

By todd

LITTLE ROCK — The Cancer Control Department of the Arkansas Cancer Research Center (ACRC) at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) will sponsor the Fourth Annual Mississippi County Cancer Awareness Day June 17. The event is scheduled for 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Blytheville Intermediate School, 216 E. Moultrie, in Blytheville.


 


Additional sponsors are the Mississippi County Cancer Council, Mississippi County Arkansas Economic Opportunity Commission Inc. and the Mississippi County Electric Cooperative. For information, call Jackie Burton at (870) 762-6007 or Chara Stewart at (800) 259-8794.


 


This will be a festive day for the entire family; there will be activities for children, music, prizes, free food and drinks. Breast and prostate cancer screenings will be provided in collaboration with the UAMS Modular Mammography Program, Witness Project and local physicians. An exercise session and healthy lunch will be provided. Winning posters of the Mississippi County School District’s tobacco awareness and prevention poster contest will be on display. The contest was sponsored in part by the UAMS ACRC Cancer Control Department, Mississippi County Cancer Council and the Mississippi County for a Tobacco-Free Arkansas through a grant received by the Minority Sub-Recipient Grant Office (MISRGO) of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.


 


An estimated 1.39 million new cancer case will be diagnosed in 2006, with 15,220 of these cases in Arkansas, according to the American Cancer Society. The goal of the UAMS/ACRC Cancer Control Department is to reduce the cancer burden in Arkansas through education, awareness and early detection.


 


UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with five colleges, a graduate school, a medical center, five centers of excellence and a statewide network of regional centers. UAMS has about 2,320 students and 690 medical residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 9,300 employees, including nearly 1,000 physicians who provide medical care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital and the VA Medical Center. UAMS and its affiliates have an economic impact in Arkansas of $4.5 billion a year. For more information, visit www.uams.edu.