In 2000, the Governor of the State of Georgia made a landmark commitment to provide funding to aggressively fight cancer across the state. Much of Georgia's tobacco settlement funding was to be dedicated to developing a strong and effective statewide system of cancer control. The announcement fired the imaginations of people throughout the state, including those in rural southwest Georgia.
Interested individuals in our region quickly came together to discuss the needs of our area, the opportunity to reduce suffering from cancer, and the opportunity to capture desperately needed resources to better prevent, find, and treat cancer. By late 2001, a group of health care providers, business executives, public health officials and religious leaders committed to working together. They pledged personal and organizational resources to create the Southwest Georgia Cancer Coalition. Ken Beverly, former CEO of John D. Archbold Memorial Hospital in Thomasville, was elected to chair a 30-member steering committee. James Hotz, MD, from Albany Area Primary Health Care was named vice chair and Paul Newell, MD, Director of Public Health for District 8-2, now retired, was elected secretary.
From its beginning, the Southwest Georgia Cancer Coalition has been open and inclusive. The early leaders donated countless hours and engaged local citizens, community and spiritual leaders, health care institutions, academic institutions, and area businesses. Several public forums were held and numerous partnerships formed. In 2002, the Southwest Georgia Cancer Coalition was awarded a $200,000 planning grant from the Georgia Cancer Coalition--one of eight proposals funded from 15 competitive applicants. Southwest Georgia Cancer Coalition continued to hold open forums with large groups of health, social, spiritual, civic, and business leaders as well as cancer survivors, to inform them about planning and implementing the proposed work.
It was determined that our regional coalition would cover 33 counties, most of which were designated as rural. The population was over 700,000 with approximately 45% African Americans. Four cancer centers were located in the region, which included portions of five public health districts.
To encourage participation from all stakeholders and to more fully represent the diversity of the region, ten workgroups were created. Various organizations provided staff leadership and a hired consultant helped to facilitate the work. Each Workgroup focused on closely examining a particular facet related to cancer control, including the following:
