Cancer Control

For decades, the word cancer has elicited fear; in part because the disease so often kills, in part because, with a few exceptions, its causes remain elusive. So when the National Cancer Institute confirmed that Maryland has the highest cancer death rate in the nation there was a predictable feeling of bafflement.Now Governor Schaefer has taken the first step to help the state get a handle on the problem by appointing a Council on Cancer Control. Its mission is simple: Cut the cancer death rate.

State health officials released an ambitious plan Tuesday to reduce cancer deaths, using the latest strategies to prevent, detect and treat the disease — and save the lives of an additional 1,200 Marylanders a year. "Our goal in Maryland is to have to lowest incidence of cancer of any state," said Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, secretary of the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, in announcing the Maryland Comprehensive Cancer Control Plan. "This is our road map. " The plan, which includes the reduction of racial disparities and an increase in screening, is designed to maintain Maryland's progress in battling cancer.

Del. Thomas named to cancer control groupDel. Virgina Thomas has been named by Gov. William Donald Schaefer to serve on the State Council on Cancer Control.The council makes recommendations to the governor for programs and policies that would lessen the cancer problem in Maryland.Delegate Thomas is also serving on the State's Procurement Committee. The committee is examining the procurement policies of state agencies to ensure that contracts are awarded fairly.POLICE LOG* Owen Brown: 9000 block of Watchlight Court: A resident was cut with a knife Wednesday when he tried to take back a set of car keys from his nephew, police said.

Edward Akira Sawada, an obstetrician and gynecologist who was a noted cervical cancer expert, died Nov. 28 at Manor Care Dulaney nursing home in Towson of injuries suffered two years ago in an automobile accident. The longtime Towson resident was 89. Dr. Sawada, the son of Japanese parents, was born and raised on Guam. He had settled on pursuing a medical career as a youngster, and after graduating from Guam Institute High School, left the island in 1941 to attend Georgetown University and its medical school.

Maryland cancer specialists and health officials trying to organize the state's first cancer control plan think they have discovered their biggest handicap -- they need a "boss." And they are encouraging Gov. William Donald Schaefer to appoint one.Now, there is no group with the authority to direct various public and private organizations with a role in battling cancer. And the state has already fallen behind schedule in implementing a key part of its recently announced anti-cancer plan -- its effort to curb smoking statewide.

ANNAPOLIS -- Gov. William Donald Schaefer announced yesterday the appointment of a Council on Cancer Control that will develop a program to prevent cancer and reduce Maryland's cancer death rate, the highest of any state in the nation."

It was like a high-stakes poker game.Tobacco lobbyist Bruce C. Bereano laid down the law to the State Council on Cancer Control yesterday: Siding with anti-smoking groups during the 1992 General Assembly would draw the council into "a very highly political arena."Furthermore, he said, championing anti-smoking bills before the legislature would be "outside the scope of the governor's charge to the group."But when all the cards were on the table, the council was still in the game."We'll have our lawyers look at the executive order and if the current words in the executive order don't give us the mandate to do what we can to reduce the death rate of lung cancer in the state of Maryland, then we'll go to the governor and ask him to revise it," said Christian H. Poindexter, the council chairman.

Some Maryland hospitals have shied away from a state program to make low-cost breast-cancer screening widely available, apparently fearing they could not afford to continue it when the program is over.The newly formed Governor's Cancer Control Council yesterday discussed ways of improving the participation in a state that leads the country in cancer death rates.The council has set a premium on extending the availability of mammography to more Maryland women, because the technique will detect many breast cancers at an early stage when they are more curable than after the cancer has spread.

Free tests to detect breast and cervical cancer are being offered through a new program to women age 50 and older in Howard County.County Executive Charles I. Ecker and Howard County Health Officer Joyce M. Boyd announced details of the program yesterday, which is being funded by the federal government and the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.Under the program, women over 50 who are uninsured, underinsured or have high deductibles on their medical insurance may receive a free mammography screening, clinical breast exam, Pap smear, pelvic exam and a colposcopy.

Maryland has retained its distinction as the state with the second-highest cancer death rate in the nation, trailing neighboring Delaware by a slim margin.The mid-Atlantic region's hold on cancer death is particularly striking when Washington is added to the picture. There, 230 out of every 100,000 inhabitants die of cancer each year, a rate exceeding that of any state.Maryland's other neighbors -- Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia -- also have cancer death rates among the top 10.Statistics comparing cancer deaths rates across the United States appear in Cancer Facts & Figures-1994, released yesterday by the National Cancer Society.

E dward Akira Sawada, an obstetrician and gynecologist who was a noted cervical cancer expert, died Nov. 28 at Manor Care Dulaney nursing home in Towson of injuries suffered two years ago in an automobile accident. The longtime Towson resident was 89. Dr. Sawada, the son of Japanese parents, was born and raised on Guam. He had settled on pursuing a medical career as a youngster, and after graduating from Guam Institute High School, left the island in 1941 to attend Georgetown University and its medical school.

Declaring qualified success in combating cancer, Maryland health officials said yesterday the state has dropped from the nation's leader in cancer deaths to the fifth-worst state.The appraisal came yesterday from the Maryland State Council on Cancer Control, which released its first five-year compilation of cancer trends. The report showed that the most important measures -- cancer death and incidence rates -- dropped incrementally from 1992 through 1996.Death rates from the four leading cancer killers -- lung, colorectal, breast and prostate -- dropped over that period, as did rates of newly diagnosed cases.

Judging from the activity in and around Old B & A Boulevard and McKinsey Road, business is alive and well in Olde Severna Park.Why? Because of a 14-foot-wide artery through which flows a steady stream of potential customers, the Baltimore-Annapolis Trail Park.Folks leave the trail at McKinsey Road to browse in the newly-opened Memory Post Antiques Boutique where Lynn Harrison-Wisniewski and five associates have joined long-established Antiques Marketplace and Antiques in the Park on the boulevard.

Maryland has retained its distinction as the state with the second-highest cancer death rate in the nation, trailing neighboring Delaware by a slim margin.The mid-Atlantic region's hold on cancer death is particularly striking when Washington is added to the picture. There, 230 out of every 100,000 inhabitants die of cancer each year, a rate exceeding that of any state.Maryland's other neighbors -- Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia -- also have cancer death rates among the top 10.Statistics comparing cancer deaths rates across the United States appear in Cancer Facts & Figures-1994, released yesterday by the National Cancer Society.

Del. Thomas named to cancer control groupDel. Virgina Thomas has been named by Gov. William Donald Schaefer to serve on the State Council on Cancer Control.The council makes recommendations to the governor for programs and policies that would lessen the cancer problem in Maryland.Delegate Thomas is also serving on the State's Procurement Committee. The committee is examining the procurement policies of state agencies to ensure that contracts are awarded fairly.POLICE LOG* Owen Brown: 9000 block of Watchlight Court: A resident was cut with a knife Wednesday when he tried to take back a set of car keys from his nephew, police said.

Free tests to detect breast and cervical cancer are being offered through a new program to women age 50 and older in Howard County.County Executive Charles I. Ecker and Howard County Health Officer Joyce M. Boyd announced details of the program yesterday, which is being funded by the federal government and the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.Under the program, women over 50 who are uninsured, underinsured or have high deductibles on their medical insurance may receive a free mammography screening, clinical breast exam, Pap smear, pelvic exam and a colposcopy.

Judging from the activity in and around Old B & A Boulevard and McKinsey Road, business is alive and well in Olde Severna Park.Why? Because of a 14-foot-wide artery through which flows a steady stream of potential customers, the Baltimore-Annapolis Trail Park.Folks leave the trail at McKinsey Road to browse in the newly-opened Memory Post Antiques Boutique where Lynn Harrison-Wisniewski and five associates have joined long-established Antiques Marketplace and Antiques in the Park on the boulevard.

Declaring qualified success in combating cancer, Maryland health officials said yesterday the state has dropped from the nation's leader in cancer deaths to the fifth-worst state.The appraisal came yesterday from the Maryland State Council on Cancer Control, which released its first five-year compilation of cancer trends. The report showed that the most important measures -- cancer death and incidence rates -- dropped incrementally from 1992 through 1996.Death rates from the four leading cancer killers -- lung, colorectal, breast and prostate -- dropped over that period, as did rates of newly diagnosed cases.

It was like a high-stakes poker game.Tobacco lobbyist Bruce C. Bereano laid down the law to the State Council on Cancer Control yesterday: Siding with anti-smoking groups during the 1992 General Assembly would draw the council into "a very highly political arena."Furthermore, he said, championing anti-smoking bills before the legislature would be "outside the scope of the governor's charge to the group."But when all the cards were on the table, the council was still in the game."We'll have our lawyers look at the executive order and if the current words in the executive order don't give us the mandate to do what we can to reduce the death rate of lung cancer in the state of Maryland, then we'll go to the governor and ask him to revise it," said Christian H. Poindexter, the council chairman.

Some Maryland hospitals have shied away from a state program to make low-cost breast-cancer screening widely available, apparently fearing they could not afford to continue it when the program is over.The newly formed Governor's Cancer Control Council yesterday discussed ways of improving the participation in a state that leads the country in cancer death rates.The council has set a premium on extending the availability of mammography to more Maryland women, because the technique will detect many breast cancers at an early stage when they are more curable than after the cancer has spread.