Partners
Colorectal cancer is the second most common cause of cancer deaths for men and women combined and is expected to cause approximately 52,980 deaths during 2021, according to cancer.org. PiCS-AR!, funded by a $2.5 million, five-year grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hopes to combat this in counties with low screening rates with the help of primary care clinics using evidence-based interventions. Three partners fuel PiCS-AR!’s mission.
Grant Management
The Community Health and Education Division of UAMS’ Department of Family and Preventive Medicine houses the project. Director and PiCS-AR! creator Alysia Dubriske, M.Ed, is the principal investigator, joined by Marybeth Curtis, BSN, who manages the program, and Jessica Presley and Luis Marin are the evaluators. Andrea Hooten, MBA, is the communications coordinator, and Colleen Lassiter is business coordinator.
Our Team
Alysia Dubriske, MEd, CHES, is the principal investigator for the PiCS-AR! grant. She has 26 years of experience of working in academia, the non-profit sector and public health. Alysia has extensive experience in securing grant funds and effective, innovative projects. Her background is in education with a specialty in high-risk populations.
Marybeth Curtis, RN, BSN, WOCN, is the nurse planner for the Dept. of Family and Preventive Medicine’s Community Health and Education Division. She designs the CME/CE conferences for family medicine, and was named program manager for CDC’s CRCCP grant – PiCS-AR! in 2020. Marybeth became a registered nurse more than 25 years ago. She graduated from Arkansas Tech University in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in nursing. She is a native of Little Rock and has three daughters and six grandchildren. Marybeth is an insatiable learner and has an even greater desire for teaching.
Andrea Hooten is the program manager for marketing and PR for the Dept. of Family and Preventive Medicine, Community Health and Education Division. After graduating with a degree in journalism/PR from Texas Tech University, she started her career as a reporter and marketed for several educational institutions in Texas and Arkansas and developed strategies for various clients in her work with advertising and PR agencies in New Mexico and Arkansas. She is accredited in public relations from the Public Relations Society of America and earned her master’s of business administration at UALR. She has been with UAMS since 2012 and leads the communication for several CDC grants as well as for the department’s continuing medical education programs.
Colleen Lassiter has been the business coordinator for UAMS Department of Family and Preventive Medicine’s Community Health and Education Division for more than two years. She oversees administrative duties and handles all accounts receivable and payable. She studied business administration and accounting at Arkansas State University. She has more than 35 years of experience in business.
Luis Paganelli Marin is a research writer at the Center for Community Engaged Evaluations within UAMS Institute for Community Health Innovation. Luis is a first-generation immigrant, a Latine evaluator who has two years of program evaluation experience in community health. His evaluation work centers on mixed-methods, culturally responsive and community-engaged evaluations. He holds a doctorate in English with a focus on multiethnic literature of the United States from the University of Arkansas.
Clinic Quality Improvement
Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care Practice Transformation (AFMC PT) focuses on quality improvement, offering expertise in cancer screening measures and practice transformation. The AFMC PT staff meet with the health care clinics regularly and provide support for gathering/abstracting quality colorectal cancer screening data and performing routine data validation. They offer ideas and support change through implementation of evidence-based interventions, and supporting activities.
Clinics
1st Choice Healthcare is our initial clinical partner with 25 providers in six locations across northeast Arkansas. Mid-Delta Health Systems joined with PiCS-AR! in summer of 2022 with clinics in Clarendon, Dewitt and Stuttgart. The Mississippi County Health System came on board in 2024 with 2 clinics in Osceola and Blytheville.
These clinics serve a mostly rural population with lower incomes, lower education levels and a lower colorectal cancer screening rate than much of the state. The clinics have seen growth of up to seven percent more screenings than a year ago.
Mid-Delta Health Systems Joins PiCS-AR!
Mid-Delta’s staff includes Deborah Clark, LPN and Elizabeth Spencer, LPN (front); JaPassion Hampton, LPN, Sarah Bellew, director of nursing, Alli Lock, LPN, and Katelyn Carlock, phlebotomist (second row); and Curtis Schalchlin, MD, and Christopher Hopkinson, MD (top)
UAMS’ Partnerships for Colorectal Cancer Screening in Arkansas (PiCS-AR!) recently joined with Mid-Delta Health System to expand the number of clinics working to reduce late-stage colorectal cancer in the state. Mid-Delta has a clinic in Clarendon and DeWitt, which are in Monroe and Arkansas counties.
PiCS-AR! is a project of the UAMS Department of Family and Preventive Medicine’s Community Health and Education Division. In 2020, the division received a $2.5 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to increase colorectal cancer screening and reduce late-stage colorectal cancer, the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States.
“We thought Mid-Delta would be a good partner because their demographics reflect those at high risk for colorectal cancer,” said Marybeth Curtis, BSN, Program Manager for the grant. “Looking at the counties they serve, they have some of the highest rates of cancer in the state. Also, the percentage of uninsured at each clinic is 12% at DeWitt and 9% in Clarendon, which hinders patients from getting a colonoscopy, the gold standard for colorectal cancer screening.”
Curtis said the rate of colorectal cancer screening in both the Clarendon and Dewitt clinics is low with Dewitt at 29.5% and Clarendon at 44%. The national goal is 80% as set by the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable. Adults should be screened for colorectal cancer beginning at age 45.
PiCS-AR! team member, Stacey George, APRN, with Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care, works directly with PiCS-AR! clinics to maximize their electronic medical records to flag patients 45 and older who need screening. She also coaches the patient navigators on best practices and monitors how well the clinics are faring with screening rates.
“Mid-Delta Health Systems wanted to join PICS-AR! to increase their colorectal screenings and get our patients the care needed in the early stage of diagnosis,” said Monica Lindley, CEO of Mid-Delta Health Systems.
PiCS-AR! has also been working with 1st Choice Healthcare in northeast Arkansas since the project began late in 2020. Since 1st Choice joined the partnership, they’ve seen a 9% increase overall in colorectal cancer screening at their six clinics.
F.I.T. Just Takes a Bit
1st Choice Healthcare staff and providers promoted the “F.I.T. Just Takes a Bit” campaign in March as part of Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. They created a fun atmosphere and handed out F.I.T. kits for every eligible patient. F.I.T. kits are less invasive than colonoscopies, easy for patients to use and are effective in testing for colorectal cancer.