BENNINGTON, Vt. — The American Cancer Society (ACS) has selected Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC), part of Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC), as a Hospital Systems Capacity Building (HSCB) Community of Practice (COP) site to increase colorectal cancer screening rates.

 

The HSCB COP initiative is three year project including 20 hospitals and their community partners nationwide. 

 

According to a press release, the aim of the project is to bring well-performing health systems together to share tools, resources, and capacity-building assistance and to solidify evidence-based methods to improve community health.

 

“I am thrilled to embark on this journey with SVMC over the next three years. I have witnessed the great work they already do around Colorectal Cancer Screening, so it came as no surprise they were recognized," said Amy Deavitt, cancer control strategic partnerships manager for the American Cancer Society, Inc., Northeast Region. “We look forward to increasing our communities' awareness around Colorectal Cancer Screening."

 

The Vermont Department of Health, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Vermonters Taking Action Against Cancer, ACS, and professionals from multiple SVMC departments served as partners in SVMC's previous work to increase colorectal cancer screening rates and will remain on the team throughout this COP project.

 

“Partnership has always been one SVMC's greatest strengths," said Charlene Ives, medical director of SVMC's Southwestern Vermont Regional Cancer Center. “This project will allow us to broaden our engagement with our current partners and other health systems in the collaborative to increase our colorectal cancer screening rates."  

 

Nine of the 20 hospitals, including SVMC, will be working on increasing rates of colorectal cancer screening. The remainder are working to increase rates of HPV vaccination or to improve breast health equity.

 

In a letter notifying hospital leadership of the opportunity, Meg Fischer, the director or Hospital Systems Capacity Building, identified SVMC as “one of the most promising sites for this work across the country."  

 

HSCB is administered by ACS and is a project of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The project is funded through the Center for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Support. At the end of the three year project, the group aims to deliver evidence-based cancer-prevention and screening interventions that can be replicated by other hospitals to improve outcomes.