WELCOME to MTAP!
On behalf of the More Than a Picnic Team, I welcome you to our cancer prevention, control, and early detection for best results program. Our program seeks to engage, motivate and cultivate family social support networks that will result in lifestyle behaviors that support prevention, reduction, and/or early detection of selected cancer types.
Historically, the Black/African-American Family Reunion has brought family members together to fellowship, celebrate heritage, and remember ancestors in a relaxed and intimate setting. Family reunions are usually deemed to be fun and provide relatives a chance to talk, reconnect, and reminisce about old times. Favorite family recipes, beverages, and games are often part of the fellowship experience.
This time of family fellowship could also be a great time to talk about family health!
Our goal is for families to cultivate the intimacy necessary to talk about family health. Sharing Family Health History is important knowledge which may help family members make informed decisions about how to improve their health and prevent and/or reduce risk for certain kinds of diseases (selected cancers, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease).
The MTAP program will help you talk with your family about lifestyle behaviors and their connection to selected cancer types (breast, cervical, colorectal, and prostate). Additionally, the MTAP program wants to help improve communication between health care professionals and family members.
Health care professionals and researchers report that excessive alcohol consumption, poor eating habits, lack of physical activity, and smoking increase chances for developing selected cancer types. PLEASE consider joining the More Than a Picnic Family Health Network to prevent and control cancer. This education portal has resources for MTAP participating families, MTAP health care professionals, and other individuals seeking to connect with cancer prevention and control resources in the state of Texas.
If your family is planning a Family Reunion, please contact us at morethanapicnic@hlkn.tamu.edu for additional information. Indeed, it’s a Family Affair for Lifestyle Change!
Sincerely,
Mary Shaw-Ridley, PhD, MCHES
Program Director
The project is funded by the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas
Project #PP110058