Community Outreach and Education

An important focus of the Barbara and Maurice Deane Prostate Health and Research Center is the extension of our expertise and services far into the community surrounding The Mount Sinai Medical Center to enhance the understanding and treatment of prostatic diseases.

A grassroots effort along these lines is needed for two important reasons: First, men in the community adjacent to the Medical Center do not regularly seek health care and particularly neglect issues concerning men's health and preventive care. Second, prostate cancer disproportionately affects African American men and possibly Latinos, who represent a large component of our community. African Americans have the highest incidence of prostate cancer in the world, are twice as likely to present with advanced disease, and are more likely to die from it.

Investigators have wondered for years why the disparity. Is it dietary or genetic? Is there a degree of racial bias by the health care system or ignorance of patients themselves to explain the disparity? An important goal of the Center is the education of the community about men's health issues through the creation of outreach programs to ensure easy access to expert medical advice and care for those in need. In providing such programs, the Center can lay the groundwork to find answers to the issues of prostate disease in Minority populations that may then be applicable to all men.

In collaboration with the Cancer Prevention and Control Program of the Department of Oncological Sciences and The East Harlem Health Partnership and Community Relations, the Prostate Health and Research Center is embarking on a program of health education and free screening. Education will focus on the message of early detection and disease intervention, dispelling the perception that the diagnosis of prostate disease will result in urinary problems (incontinence) and sexual dysfunction (impotence). Programs will encourage men to seek regular health care and to inquire about treatments for all health issues.

Free screenings are coordinated through affiliated community health centers such as Settlement Health to ensure opportunities for access to complete health care and enhance health networks between the community and the Medical Center. Furthermore, a process has been established through Community Relations and the Resource, Entitlement and Advocacy Program (REAP) office to maximize health benefit coverage for those without insurance. Therefore, all of our patients will be eligible for diagnosis and treatment, if needed, offered through the Prostate Health and Research Center based on the best intended results without influence by cost.

Through the resources of the Center, issues that are of special concern to the community surrounding Mount Sinai are being addressed. An important program concerns attitudes towards disease screenings in an effort to increase awareness and informed decision making. This collaborative effort between the Cancer Center, Emergency Room, and the Center entails information exchange between prostate cancer survivors and unscreened individuals to understand perceptions of prostate cancer in the community better and therefore to tailor educational outreach better.