HJBR Jan/Feb 2022

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE I  JAN / FEB 2022 15 MBP continued... to continue to evolve. There’s so much great news in cancer care, it’s just amazing. I’ll try to fill in some gaps for you dated all the way back to the National Cancer Act when it was signed in 1971, and then howwe progressed so rapidly since the 2000s. There was just this explo- sion of knowledge that started in the early 2000s, it just continues. I think it goes back to the commitment of the U.S. government back in the 70s to do something about can- cer. Back in 1970, this is a sobering num- ber, about 35% of people diagnosed with a cancer diagnosis in 1971 survived five years. Estimates today are that 80% of people with a new diagnosis are surviving cancers today. That is an incredible amount of progress. Got a lot more to go. And, being able to put some context to where progress came from and then where it’s going to come from in the future would be a lot of fun to talk about. Editor: Youmentioned the rural community. Do you think Cancer Alley is an apt descrip- tion for the chemical/industrial corridor between Baton Rouge and NewOrleans and what is happening to our citizens in those areas? Stevens: If you look at those data that we talked in, not “Cancer Facts & Figures,” but the LTR website, and you look across our state plugin, East Carroll parish, plug in all those parishes in Northeast Louisiana, the parishes here in the river parishes area, and you are going to see disparities and rates of death and diagnosis that are just not what they need to be. So, across our state, the bur- den of cancer is too great. It predominantly appears to me that it exists in our more rural communities with small populations that may not have access to the care and ser- vices they need. Also, when you look in this data, when you read “Cancer Facts and Figures,” you’ll see the amount of incidents of can- cer that’s attributable to cigarette smoking and to physical exercise, nutrition, weight. I believe the numbers ... and this is com- ing from memory, so check it out ... but, I believe to 40% of all cancer death is related to cigarette smoking. I know you’ll find that in “Cancer Facts & Figures”; there’s a whole section on tobacco. Check that number, but either 30% or 40% of cancer deaths is attrib- utable to cigarette smoking. Then, 1 in 5 new diagnoses is linked to obesity, physical exer- cise or lack thereof, nutrition. Those factors are prevalent in rural communities and communities across the south, for example. When it comes to try- ing to answer the question you asked me, I don’t know the answer. It’s impossible to know from all of those factors. When you think about cigarette use, lack of access to quality foods and quality diets, proximity to environmental areas like the rural parishes with plants, if somebody tells you that they can definitively prove that there is a correla- tion between where you live and cancer and can show you the data, I would love to see it, because I’ve been looking for it. The fact of the matter is, the answer to your question is, there are too many people in Louisiana all over our rural parishes that get diagnosed with cancer and that have outcomes that should be different. We want to figure out and focus on, no matter where they live, if it’s in the delta or in the river par- ishes, how to bring high quality education about cancer prevention, about how to live a healthier lifestyle and how to have access to early detection and high-quality treatment. That’s what will move the needle in all of these areas across the state when it comes to outcomes from cancer. Editor: There’s a lot of talk of the fence-line populations being affected by the chemi- cal industry in our state, but I smell chem- ical releases in the early morning in Baton Rouge proper, and, when flying the other day, I could see a remarkable difference in the air quality between Lafayette and BatonRouge. The air actually started to turn brownish after passing the Atchafalaya. The situa- tion, to me, seems larger than fence line. Do you think these releases are affecting our health and ultimately increasing our can- cer numbers? Stevens: I don’t know, and I’m not qualified to even have an opinion. I know what I see in the data from the Louisiana Tumor Regis- try and from “Cancer Facts & Figures.”What I see across the state of Louisiana is that we have that slightly higher incidence rate of cancer, and when we look in rural parishes that face disparities and disadvantages, we see those incidents rates and death rates that are higher than in parishes like East Baton Rouge. So, my answer to your ques- tion is, we can identify the circumstances well when it comes to how to address care and needs in these rural parishes where those disparities exist. So, that’s what we’re focused on. But, in terms of answering that specific question, I don’t know. I hope you can find somebody who does, because that could shed more light on how we deliver services within our network of programs that we operate. Editor: I know it’s a sensitive area because of the money chemical companies pump into the state, and this ismy last question on this topic. But is there something we should be doing to limit releases from these plants? Should we, as healthcare leaders in Loui- siana, be concerned about it, and what are we doing? I’m tired of talking in platitudes. Our state ranks so lowon somany healthcare levels, it doesn’t make sense to me. What, as healthcare leaders, should we be doing to address that? If you think it’s an issue, do you know anybody who’s doing something? Stevens: I know from the past several years working in my role here that several of the large chemical industries they host com- munity groups. They are very interested in community activism and awareness and education and recognize the perception or the reality that people feel that they’re at risk because of proximity to living near a plant. My answer to your question, this is Todd Stevens, I’m not representing Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center with this, there are chemical plants and industrial plants all over the United States and the EPA and our federal government and their coordination with local and state government. My under- standing is that they are actively and fully