The Cancer Center at University of Maryland Shore Regional Health (UM SRH) recently welcomed Catalina Billings as coordinator of community outreach, a new position designed to provide up-to-date cancer information and resources by partnering with local organizations within the five-county region served by UM SRH. UM SRH is a member organization of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS).
As community outreach coordinator, Billings’ mission is to reach community members “where they are” with information that heightens their awareness of risks, symptoms and prevention strategies for many kinds of cancer. She is available to offer presentations at trusted community sites and events in Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot counties, including health fairs, churches, temples, senior centers, nonprofit organizations, civic groups and residential communities.
Fluent in English and Spanish,, Billings first joined the UM SRH cancer program in June 2018 as medical interpreter serving Spanish-speaking patients; a few months later, her duties expanded to include outreach activities for the Wellness for Women program offered by the Clark Comprehensive Breast Center. In that capacity, she provided breast cancer education presentations at churches, schools, women’s group meetings and community centers around the Mid-Shore region and also participated in awareness walks, third-party fundraising and educational events throughout the year.
American Cancer Society statistics indicate that in the U.S., an estimated 40 out of 100 men and 39 out of 100 women will develop cancer during their lifetime. Incidence increases greatly with age; 88% of Americans diagnosed with cancer are 50 years or older. A member organization in the UMMS Cancer Network, the Cancer Center at UM SRH is the only comprehensive cancer care program serving residents of Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot counties.
“I am very excited to expand my focus from breast cancer education to cancer more broadly,” Billings said. “In addition to breast cancer awareness in October, there are other awareness months; for example, prostate cancer in September and lung cancer in November. These observances and others provide the opportunity to highlight risk factors, symptoms, treatments and survivorship of different kinds of cancer. I look forward to helping people in our diverse communities become more informed about this important health issue and enabling them to make pro-active choices for better health.”
For more information or to schedule a presentation, contact 410-822-6800 or email SRH-CancerOutreach@umm.edu.
About University of Maryland Shore Regional Health
A member organization of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), University of Maryland Shore Regional Health (UM SRH) is the principal provider of comprehensive health care services for more than 170,000 residents of five counties on Maryland’s Eastern Shore: Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot. UM SRH consists of approximately 2,000 team members, including more than 600 health care providers on the Medical Staff, who work with community partners to advance the values that are foundational to our mission: Compassion, Discovery, Excellence, Diversity and Integrity. For more information, visit https://www.umms.org/shore.
About the University of Maryland Medical System
The University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) is an academic private health system, focused on delivering compassionate, high quality care and putting discovery and innovation into practice at the bedside. Partnering with the University of Maryland School of Medicine and University of Maryland, Baltimore who educate the state’s future health care professionals, UMMS is an integrated network of care, delivering 25 percent of all hospital care in urban, suburban and rural communities across the state of Maryland. UMMS puts academic medicine within reach through primary and specialty care delivered at 11 hospitals, including the flagship University of Maryland Medical Center, the System’s anchor institution in downtown Baltimore, as well as through a network of University of Maryland Urgent Care centers and more than 150 other locations in 13 counties. For more information, visit www.umms.org.
