Mark Linn – News Editor
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Cyclists completed the last leg of the Cycliad bicycle challenge on May 3 at Railroad Park, wrapping up a four week ride that covered 1,300 miles across five states to raise funds for cancer research and support services.
“This is our big finale celebration at railroad park. We’ve had a huge turnout, we’re really excited,” said Sarah Smedley, Operations Manager at the Deep South Cancer Foundation, the charitable nonprofit group that organized the Cycliad event. “We’ve gone between 13 hospitals, close to 1300 miles, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, all the hospitals that participate in the Patient Navigator program. So this is our fourth and final weekend. We started in Chattanooga, and we’ve been going around the southeast.”
The Deep South Cancer Foundation was established for the purpose of raising funds for the UAB Health System Cancer Community Network. The Network, developed by the UAB Compensive Cancer Care Center and UAB Medicine, consists of a network of 13 hospitals. These hospitals are spread throughout Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi and Florida to promote collaboration between UAB and community cancer centers throughout the southeast.
In 2012, the UAB Cancer Community Network was awarded a $15 million grant by the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, with the goal providing a new national cancer care model, and the aim of saving saving $50 million over the span of three years.
The grant gave birth to the Patient Navigator program – where nonclinical personnel help guide patients through the challenges of cancer treatment.
“For some people with lower income, they might not have a place to stay when they come to Birmingham, so patient navigators help them locate a place they can stay. For some people, they need people to help them understand what’s going on in their appointments, so our patient navigators to go their appointments with them, sit there, listen and help them understand what’s going on,” said Smedley. “Sometimes it’s checking up and making sure patients have the right resources that they need so that they don’t let red flags slip by.”
According Smedley, the $15 million dollar grant that makes the Navigator program possible is due to run out this year, so fund-raising events like the Cycliad are necessary to keep the program going.
The final event that took place on May 3 included a free kids’ ride; the “Metric Century” cycling route, stretching 68 miles from Railroad Park, through Mountain Brook and Leeds, and back to the Park; and 10-mile ride beginning and ending in the Park. Event organizers estimate that there were about 72 participants in the Metric Century ride, 65 participants in the 10-mile ride, and five elite cyclists who completed the full 1,300 miles trek across the south.
One of the 10-mile ride participants was Patrick Packer, co-founder of Black People Run Bike and Swim, an organization helping promote physical activities for the African American community to address common health disparities.
“This is a wonderful event,” said Packer. “We had members that rode the 62 mile route, and we had members that rode the 10 mile.”
For people like Packer, participation in the Cycliad event was about community outreach and giving back.
“We want to make sure the African American community, and those that live in the urban centers, get engaged in programs like this,” said Packer. “So that they can give back. Because a lot of the patient navigators really help those that don’t have a lot and don’t know how to navigate the system. So we’re pleased to join with the UAB Cancer Center here, to support all of their efforts”
While the Cycliad event did not reach their initial $1 million goal, they estimated that they did bring in $320,438 from their efforts. All funds will be divided up among the 13 participating hospitals and will be used to focus on maintaining and expanding the Patient Navigator program, as well as funding community-based and basic scientific research, according to the Deep South Cancer Foundation.
