The National Cancer Institute, of the National Institutes of Health, recently awarded two grants totaling $600,000 to the John T. Vucurevich Regional Cancer Care Institute.

The funds will enhance continued operations of Walking Forward, a program that seeks to reduce the impact cancer has on Native Americans in western South Dakota, a population ravaged by high rates of cancer mortality.

The first $100,000 will pay for administrative assistance to physicians who wish to enroll their patients in cancer clinical trials. Regional Hospital's cancer care institute offers a variety of cancer clinical research trials normally available only in larger metropolitan areas. Through this effort, the National Cancer Institute hopes to increase enrollments and availability of cutting-edge cancer treatments to rural and medically underserved populations.

The remaining $500,000 will be disbursed over five years. The funds will support and enhance existing patient services offered to Native American communities on area reservations and Native American cancer patients at the local cancer care institute. The services include comprehensive, Native-specific cancer education programs to improve health behaviors among Native Americans and will address the full continuum of cancer care.

Since 2003, Dr. Daniel G. Petereit, a radiation oncologist in Rapid City, has led a research and treatment team that has helped provide earlier access to cancer treatment through Walking Forward program. The program includes clinical trials, community and cancer patient surveys, community education and outreach, and a study of the ataxia telangiectasia-mutated gene that plays a major role in DNA repair.

In 2002, National Cancer Institute awarded Rapid City Regional Hospital a $5.4 million, five-year grant to fund Walking Forward at the cancer care institute. In 2006, the national agency provided a supplemental grant of $109,000 to extend the clinical research of the Walking Forward program for both Native American and non-Native cancer patients.

Rapid City Regional Hospital works closely with the NCI's Cancer Disparities Research Partnership, a federal program that seeks to reduce cancer mortality among minorities.

For more information regarding the Walking Forward program, call 605-719-2305.