Support for this program is provided by the Weldon F Osborne Foundation.

The Schillhahn-Huskey Foundation.

And viewers like you.

Thank you.

On today's show, we're featuring two nonprofits workin to keep our community healthy.

One organization is fighting colon cancer.

While the other supports those affected by kidney disease.

Both share one mission stronger health for all.

Stay tuned to learn more.

Welcome to Chattanooga.

Stronger.

Together.

I'm Barbara marder.

We're joined today by docto Shawna Lorenzo Rivera, founder of the Greater Chattanooga Colon Cancer Foundation.

This organization is dedicated to raising community awareness that colon and rectal cancers are preventable, treatable, and beatable.

Welcome Can you tell me why you started the Cancer Foundation here in Chattanooga?

Absolutely.

So when I first came to Chattanooga, it was 2008, and there was the the breast cancer run.

There was for fun in the sun walk for melanoma, but there was nothing for colon cancer.

And the issue is in the South, particularly in Chattanooga, our rates of colon cancer are very high.

So it took me a little bit and it took about two years to get organized.

But we started and the whol purpose of having a fundraiser, A5K run was not just to raise awareness.

So everyone who has a colon, which is the majority of us human beings, right, that we need to get a colon skippy on time and that if we happen to hav symptoms, not to ignore things.

But the second portion, besides letting people know that that's important to get screened, was to raise money for people who don't have insurance so that they could get their colonoscopy.

So when we first started we started with a program called Get Your Rearing Gear, which was wonderful.

We really enjoyed it.

But the issue was 75% of our funds went nationally for research.

Which is good.

And they need that.

But it left us with only 25% here in Chattanooga.

And it wasn't much to help our uninsured get their colon on Skippy.

Yeah.

And so what we did after a couple of years is we changed it to run a run which is 100% local.

100% of our funds stay here with that particular goal.

And so we use the funds for awareness nowadays that social media interviews opportunities like this.

And we appreciate that we go to health fairs and we go to other events where there may be people who, don't know that they need to have their colonoscopy.

So we worked with, schoolchildren because they have colons, they have parents with colons, they have grandparents with colons.

And they're wonderful little ambassadors to remind people what the screening age is, which is now 45.

It used to be 50.

Yeah.

So it's really important that we all know that.

And, we had talked earlie about the rates of colon cancer.

Yeah.

So in the entire United States, colon cancer ranks third in terms of, prevalence for both men and women.

The rates are not exactly equal in Chattanooga, but in our community.

When I first came to Chattanooga, we were in the lowest quartile in terms of we had the highest rates of colon cancer, the highest rates of death from colon cancer, and the lowest rates of screening.

That's a bad situation.

You don't want to be in the lowest quartile.

And the top two, demographics of people who are more likely to get colon cancer and die of colon cancer.

Number one is the black community.

And number two are Latinos.

Now, the thing is, as we get people educated, my hope is to completely eradicate colon cancer for everyone, regardless of the color of your skin.

But as we make tha just means that we have to spend a little more attention on those groups to make sure they know and to make sure that they have the opportunit to get a colon cancer screening.

So when you talk about the Latino population and the African American, that's, genetic predisposition, isn't it?

Not completely.

Oh, okay.

So as time goes on we learn more and more things.

And also the way human beings interac with their environment changes.

So only 5% of colon cancer are truly hereditary or genetic.

So in the grand scheme of things that sounds like a small amount.

But there are certain things about those populations that they happen to share.

Now in the black population they there's a higher predispositio to a mutation in the cross gene which is called a proto oncogene, a gene that turns on cancer genes.

So not just colon cancer but other cancer genes.

And for that reason we think that they are a higher risk of some forms of cancer, that the Latino populatio doesn't have that same mutation.

But there may be other reasons more likely, especially the way things are now in our country.

It's fear.

It's fear that they may be deported or it's fear that they don't trust the healthcare system here, things like that, that are the obstacles that are not allowing the to get the care that they need.

So let's talk about what are some of the symptoms signs that we need to be aware of whether we're black white, yellow, green or yellow.

You know, the first thing I will say is when we talk about screening, screenin means you don't have symptoms.

And the idea of screening so many people have heard of a mammogram is screening or a PSA is a test for prostate cancer, is screening is to catch it before the cancer appears when you don't have symptoms.

Okay So we would like that to happen.

But let's say you do have symptoms.

Symptoms would be bleedin from the rectum or in the stool weight loss change in your bowel habits.

So if you're a regular and all of a sudden now you're not or diarrhea constipation, abdominal pain.

So those are thing that they could be other things.

But I would just say your job as a human being and as a patient is to recognize something changed and to see your medical professional, because they will be the on to order the tests to make sure that you're health and that you don't have cancer.

But the idea with colonoscopy, now, colonoscopy is the the gold standard because it does two things.

One, it detects the polyp.

A polyp is what turns into a cancer.

Colon cancer okay.

But if it's non-cancerous it can be removed.

If it's cancerous, it can be removed.

Okay.

So if you find a little polyp, I always think of a polyp like a cherry or a or a mushroom.

Yeah.

But the idea with colonoscopy is to remove it.

Right.

So if it's just a polyp and it doesn't have any cancer cells in it yet, you have just prevented a cancer.

That's the whole okay, okay.

If there happens to be cancer in the polyp, it just means that removing the polyp alone is not necessarily treatment.

You may need something further, which may be simply surgery.

It may be surgery plus chemotherapy and maybe surger plus chemotherapy and radiation.

So that gets determined once the polyp is removed or the biopsy is taken which is done with colonoscopy.

But before we get to that step, we have choices.

Okay.

So there's different options.

Absolutely.

There are different options.

And it used to be there weren't.

But we're very fortunate in this day and age that we do have some options.

So besides colonoscopy you can have a flexible sigmoidoscopy which is a shorter exam.

So colonoscopy is a little tube with a camera at the end that we can use instruments to remove polyps.

Flexible sigmoidoscopy is a much harder to do that only looks at the rectum and the sigmoid, not the whole cancer, but it doesn't require sedation.

Oh okay.

You can have something called C.T.

colon ography ography means looking visual.

So what it does, you still do the bowel prep.

You get your picture taken with the CT scanner and the polyp has to be one centimeter, which is about that big.

That's fairly big for a polyp.

Yeah.

Once it's detected then you need a colonoscopy to remove it.

Yeah.

So recently we have had some stool tests.

So one stool test is test is called a fit test which looks for colon cancer DNA.

And it also looks for blood in the stool, microscopic blood in the stool, which that's a really good screening test because it's cheap and it detects things for a large number of people.

But just like the other test, if it's positive, the next step is colonoscopy.

We've heard of Cologuar that also looks for stool DNA.

And then the third one i recently we have a blood test, which is called the shield.

And we would all love to just have a blood test when we have our routine annual labs.

The only issue with those types of tests is that the shiel or the blood test is very good at detecting metastatic cancer, cancer that has spread.

So it's not a good screening test.

We want to catch it before you have the cancer.

We want to catch the polyp to remove it.

So while it has its place it does not take the place of colonoscopy.

Wow.

The othe thing I will mention for people who have insuranc that they don't always realize is usually the insurance company says you need a preventative measure, you need a screening.

But they don't always say which one.

You get to pick from our four choices.

And if you happen to pick one that's not colonoscopy and it detects a polyp or a cancer, we said if that test is positive, then you need to have the colonoscopy.

But then the insurance company says, well, it's not screening anymore.

It's not part of your prevention package, and you may have to pay more out of pocket.

So I always urge folks, go for the gold standard because it will detect the polyp.

It will remove the polyp and prevent the cancer.

So it's curable.

Absolutely.

If it's caught early, early enough, If you have no polyps or colon cancer on that first colonoscopy, you would have a colonoscopy every ten years.

Oh, okay.

Now let's let's put that familial piece in, let's say a family member, a first degree relative, which would be a brother or sister, a mother, a father if they either have polyps or colon cancer, that means everybody in the family gets to have colonoscopy every five years or less because you're at higher risk.

And we start ten years earlie in age than the youngest person in the famil to have colon cancer or polyps.

Okay, so if it were younger than 4 we start earlier than 45, right.

Depends on the family on what's going on.

So in the last 30s yes man, I want to talk about volunteer opportunities.

Of course.

Yes.

We need our volunteer.

So ou big fundraiser is the one front.

We love to have volunteers help us with that event.

We do lots of health fairs and events which we need volunteers for two.

We have lots of survivors of colon cancer and they volunteer as well to tell their stories, which is really important.

Yeah, I love that.

Thank you so much for coming in today and sharing all this information.

I will be the first to say I've never had one.

I know I'm a bad girl.

I'm going to get one.

I promise I'm going to get one.

I promise I'm at my age.

I'm like, yeah, let's go ahead and check that area to it.

But thank you so much for coming in.

Today is my pleasure, my pleasure.

And I will congratulate you when you have yours.

Okay.

Good.

I'll let you know that.

Up next, we'll have Heather Melton from the Kidney Foundation of Greater Chattanooga.

Stay with us.

We want to know how you serve your community.

Send us photos or videos of you or your family volunteering, and we may feature it on a future episode.

Email stronger@wtcitv.org or use the hashtag STRONGERWTCI on social media.

Welcome back.

We're joined by Heather Melton, executive director of the Kidney Foundation of Greater Chattanooga.

This organization is focused on education, patient assistance, awareness and prevention.

Heather, it's a pleasur to have you with me today.

Oh.

Thank you.

I'm so excited to be here.

I'm excited to have you here, too, and especially to learn more about, you know kidney disease and everything.

So how did the Kidney Foundation get in Chattanooga?

When did it start?

And what is the mission?

Oh, it's kind of an interesting story that's tied directly to the history of dialysis.

So dialysis was started in 1943, and then it took 30 years for that treatment to get to Chattanooga.

So in 1973, a wonderful nephrologist, Doctor Jackson Yim, and his wife Millie, made their way from Texas to Erlanger and starte the first, dialysis unit there.

And that' when Chattanooga got dialysis.

Now, before that, can you imagine having to drive to Nashville or Atlanta three times a week to get that treatment?

It's kind of crazy.

So when the EMS came, they started right away.

Dialysis patients here locally.

And then as time progressed, they started to see what a tol this disease takes on a person.

Going three times a week for treatment.

They were unable to work financially and mentally.

It's a big, big struggle.

So in the beginning stages, the Sims were very kind of, philanthropy minded people who would get their own checkbook out sometimes and take care of whatever the needs those people may have at that time, whether it was needing help getting food, paying their mortgage or whatever it might be.

And so in 1981 they kind of sat down and said, we probably should do this in a more organized way.

And that' where our organization was born, literally in the basemen of Erlanger Hospital one night.

They sat down with a social worker.

Her name is Ellen Pridmore.

And they said, ho can we make this into something where we can do this the right way?

And they joined a chapter of the National Kidney Foundation in 1981 and started kind of learning the basics of how to run a nonprofit because we had a nephrologist, a nurse, and a social worker trying to understand how to run a nonprofit.

So, once they were able t kind of learn and get the ropes, they threw some amazing, fundraising events.

They were the first group to do anything at the Chattanooga Convention Center.

The first fundraiser.

So they started working on things and saw that they were sending a lot of the funds to the National Foundation, and they really were working s hard to keep those funds local.

And we all all know local matters.

And so in 1989 they just said, you know what?

We can do this on our own.

So we have been an independen and local nonprofit since 1989.

And what we do i get out there in the community, raise as much money as we can, and then also educate, offer free screenings and keep everything that's going on right her in our 12 county service area.

Wow, what an amazing story.

And I love the fact that whatever money is raised stays here, and it serves our community and everything like that.

So let's talk about the kidney disease.

What are the leading causes of kidney disease?

So kidney disease is very interesting because it is a very silent disease.

A lot of time some of the signs and symptoms that may present people don't realize it's tie back to their kidneys, things.

I always start up here.

We've got a headache.

We might have a poor appetite.

Then we get a little nauseous, and then there could be some changes in our urine that come from that.

But it's not until we get to those changes in the urine that we might really ease some things even going on.

But two things you can look out for, if you are hypertensive, high blood pressure, or you have diabetes, those are the two leading causes.

When those thing are uncontrolled or unmonitored, they can directly damage your kidneys because the kidneys act as a filter.

Yes, that's what they do.

So if you think about it, the kidneys are such an amazing organ.

And hopefully most everybody has two of them.

You can live with jus one though, but they filter out all of the waste and things like that.

They're grabbing o to those really good nutrients and keeping those circulating back through your blood.

And then the stuff that we don't need comes out as urine.

Wow.

Amazing.

So now the kidney, the liver and the pancreas all kind of work together.

They're threesome right there.

Yeah.

And they really closely with the heart, too.

And if one of those are out of sync, you got big trouble and everything.

So, what are some, You know, I know you mentioned some of the sign and everything, so hypertension.

What is a wha should your blood pressure be?

Kind of like the low level, the good sun.

And then what should it be if it's a bad sign?

Sure.

So with blood pressure, it's just like a lot of things.

It's very unique to our own body.

So sometimes, blood pressure that's normal for me might not be normal for you.

Right?

And so it's really critical that we learn what our normal blood pressure is, first of all.

So, that can be done easily.

Monitoring at home.

Many places, our local stores, Amazon, different places.

You can order a blood pressure monitor at home.

And so if I use that, yes, you can get them for your wrist or your arm.

Start tracking so you learn what a normal blood pressure is for you because it could be different than what they recommend.

But of course 120 over 80.

That is anything 120 over 80 or lower is fabulous.

That is what we're looking for.

Once you start creeping up to like that 140 over 90, we're getting signs of hypertension.

And that's when we should be worried that that could b causing damage to our kidneys.

And sometimes even we don' realize that this is happening.

I can tell you a personal story that, I was on a medication as a young person in my 20s that was causing my blood pressure to spike, and I didn't know that.

I just thought I was young and healthy.

And at one of our kidney screenings, I just randomly checked my blood pressure.

And the nephrologist who was volunteering at that screening said, this is way too high for a person your age.

So having that information, I was able to take it.

Yeah.

Go to my doctor and say, what's causing this?

We figured out it was the medicine, changed the medicine and got my blood pressure back under control.

So it can literally happen to anyone.

And it's so important to know what your personal blood pressure should be.

Yeah, and you can go to Walmart or any of those stores, and they actually have, their drug stores on there.

And you can go and check it then.

Yeah, a lot of them have the little thing you can sit down and put your arm in, but sometimes doing it in a public place or even at your doctor's office, people get nervous and that elevates your blood pressure.

So taking it in the privac and relaxation of your own home sometimes is a really good way to really gauge what your numbers are.

Yeah, because when the last time I went to the doctor, traffic was bad, it was running late.

Right then they did the blood pressure.

It was like 140 over 80 or something.

And then they go out an we'll be back in a few minutes.

And so I sat there and I played, you know, on my phone and relaxed in about 20 minutes later they came in is like 118 over something your world did you do?

And I went, I just calmed myself down because you can rush aroun and it can be a little elevated.

I always tell people, go to your happy place when you're going to get your blood pressure taken.

Just take a minute.

Close your eyes.

If it's the beach, the mountains, wherever, just go there.

Yeah, exactly, exactly.

So if somebody all of a sudden finds out, you know, they have to have dialysis or something like that, that's everybody thinks, oh my gosh, that' the end of life and everything.

But it's not really, is it?

No, I always say dialysi is not a death sentence at all.

In the early years, when we were first starting this in the 70s, the life expectancy was shorter and that was just because we were learning.

And now as we've progressed to present day, we have patients who can live 20, 30 years, if they are compliant and listen to their doctors and follow that renal die and show up to their treatment.

It is very possible for it to just be an extension of your life.

It's not the mos convenient process, but it now there are great strides in i being able to be done at home, so you don't have to g into the center as much anymore.

If you are able to have a caretaker help, you do it at home.

So dialysis is flushing a kidney.

So I think the most easy way to describe dialysis is did think of the machine as like a washing machine.

And so we're going to tag our.

Usually it's in your arm sometimes in your chest.

They'll place a port.

And that will hook up to the machine.

And they remove your blood, run it through the washing machine and put it back in.

So that is what becaus your kidneys are no longer able to filter the dialysis machine is your filter.

So, it is a an interesting process.

There's lots of side effects that come from removing blood from your body and putting it back in.

Yeah.

A lot of times people are very cold.

They can feel nauseous, tired weak even after that treatment.

So it is a it is a grueling process.

3 to 4 hours every treatment, is how long it would take to cycle that in and out.

And you do it three times a week.

So we'll get about a minute left.

Give me a C6, a success story.

Well, my favorite one.

It's very easy.

At the foundation, we take a whole life approach to helping any patients that we can with anything that makes their quality of life better.

And so the thing we'r looking for is, okay, if rent is what makes your life better today, great.

But my favorite story is a lady who wanted to learn how to drive.

She had never learned, never been taught.

It was in her 50s, the 60s, and didn't know how to drive.

So we sent her to driving school and she learned how to drive.

Then was able to obtai a vehicle and transport herself to treatment so she never missed treatment because she was dependent on others or public transit to get her there.

So that's one of the special things about being local, is we can do things like tha to help people where they need the help, meet them right where they are is that quality of life, no matter what they need, whether it's going back to school or whether it's doing a hobby or whatever it is, transportation or whatever, you're there to kind of help with that quality of life.

So they not only are surviving, they're now thriving through all of this.

Exactly.

And the entire family, that's another approach that we like to look at, is this disease impacts your entire household.

And sometimes the impact ma not be exactly on the patient, but it could be providing school supplies for the children in the home or something like that.

We're open to anything that makes that household thrive.

It's amazing.

I will direct our viewers to your website.

There's a lot of great information, and the one thing I've told you before, I love your recipes.

So I know those have been kind of reviewed to make sure that they're very good and healthy for people and everything.

So I would just hope our viewers will go check it out, because there's a lot of other really great information about the warning signs and things, the dose and the don't exactly.

Oh, we're very we're very lucky that we have so many wonderful people locally who help us and contribute to our website to provide information.

Heather, thank you so much for coming in today.

I really appreciate it.

Of course, and thank you for joining us.

We hope you've learned more about the amazing work being done by our local nonprofits.

We love to hear from you.

Email us at.

Stronger@tv.org or use the hashtag stronger Wtcr on social media.

I'm Barbara Marde and from all of us here at WTC.

We'll see you next time.

Support for this program is provided by the Weldon F Osborne Foundation.

The Schillhahn-Huskey Foundation.

And viewers like you.

Thank you.