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Fred Hutchinson’s Spokane outreach office offers naming contest for colon cancer display

This inflatable colon display is set up at health fairs to teach about colon-cancer screening. The Spokane office of Fred Hutch Cancer Center Community Outreach & Engagement is holding a naming contest for the local display. The entries will be accepted through Aug. 31. (Courtesy)
This inflatable colon display is set up at health fairs to teach about colon-cancer screening. The Spokane office of Fred Hutch Cancer Center Community Outreach & Engagement is holding a naming contest for the local display. The entries will be accepted through Aug. 31. (Courtesy)
By Treva Lind treval@spokesman.com(509) 459-5439

An outreach office of Seattle’s acclaimed Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center has recently opened in Spokane to promote health education and gain local input on cancer care.

Such sites across the state are run in conjunction with the University of Washington and the Seattle Children’s Cancer Consortium to offer information at health fairs, promote health equity and help assess community health needs.

The offices also provide community grants to groups working to increase health access or awareness.

This month, the Spokane office is holding a naming contest for an inflatable colon display set up at events to teach about the importance of colon cancer screening. The contest entries will be accepted until Aug. 31.

Similar display naming contests in Seattle and Sunnyside won with the names: “CECE” for Colorectal Education Cancer Exhibit and “CASPER” for Capture All Suspicious Polyps & Eradicate Rapidly.

To enter for a Spokane display name, the office asks participants to be 18 or older and to use family-friendly language. The winner receives a $100 honorarium. Go to the contest link at bit.ly/43UBUuD.

Excluding skin cancers, colorectal cancer is the third-most common cancer diagnosed in men and women in the U.S., the American Cancer Society says. The rate of people diagnosed with colon or rectal cancer each year has dropped since the mid-1980s, mainly as more people got screened and changed lifestyle-related risk factors.

Also, the Spokane office is gathering input for the state Department of Health on needs in selecting a contractor for the Eastern Washington Breast, Cervical, Colon Health Program. The Spokane Regional Health District was the previous contractor, but that ended in 2022, said Daniel Padron, a local community health educator.

The program promotes and provides breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screening and early detection, and with the Health Care Authority, enrolls breast and cervical clients into the treatment program and finds treatment options for colorectal cancer diagnoses. It partners with health systems to increase screening rates.

More information about the Fred Hutch outreach work is online at fredhutch.org.