Living with Cancer, Elmira, NY 2000
Partners:
Star-Gazette
WETM-TV (NBC)
WSKG-FM, WSKG-TV
A year-long project looked at the impact of the region’s higher-than-average cancer rate and the steps citizens can take to prevent the disease. Monthly installments in the paper, each focusing on a different aspect of the disease, were complemented by radio and television news segments and special TV programs as well as interactive online quizzes and links to other helpful sites.
Reporting was informed both by a poll of 405 Chemung County residents that showed 60 percent had cancer in their family and by an advisory group of 12 “core sources,” including two cancer patients, an oncologist, a nurse, a social worker, a state legislator and others. They suggested and helped frame stories for the series.
The first package of stories ran in January 2001 with an overview of the problem in the Elmira area and profiles of people affected by cancer. A public television special that month featured health care and cancer officials talking to the paper’s project editor and program host Bill Jaker.
Several non-profit groups sought to get involved in the project. The Breast Cancer Network offered to solicit sources so the paper developed a form that the Network distributed to patients. Reporters interviewed several women who returned the form.
The paper also designed a questionnaire that was distributed to 500 cancer patients through the American Cancer Society and the Falck Cancer Center. Some 30 patients returned the form and, in March, the paper ran a full page of the comments and advice obtained through the questionnaire.
In April, when the series turned its focus to prevention, WSKG ran its second special report which featured Jaker getting a colonoscopy, a procedure for early detection of colon cancer. In September, the Web page supporting the project posted a quiz testing users knowledge of cancer. Another quiz, in November, helped users determine their risk level for lung cancer. The site also linked to Harvard University’s cancer risk calculator and an “ask the expert” site where users could email lung cancer questions to an oncology nurse. The site received 44,000 hits through the course of the year, with the number of users increasing each month of the project.
The final installment ran in the Star-Gazette Dec. 16 and WETM broadcast a two-part special, Dec. 16 and 23, wrapping up the project. Reprints were distributed to area medical offices and health classes.
Contact:
Jane E. Sutter (former Executive Editor, Star-Gazette)
Managing Editor
Democrat and Chronicle
55 Exchange Blvd.
Rochester, NY 14614
Phone: (585) 258-2301
Email: jsutter@democratandchronicle.com