Taskforce Mission
The Lung Cancer Screening Taskforce seeks to provide education and training to providers to increase awareness of needed lung cancer screenings. This group also works to educate health care providers on cessation resources, interventions and strategies. Please see Goal 2 in the Vermont Cancer Plan. The Lung Cancer Taskforce collaboratively came together to create a Lung Cancer Screening Resource Guide, which can be found here.
Education Campaign Additional Resources:
- YouTube: Lung Cancer Screening: A Current Update (July 2022)
- Article: Dartmouth Cancer enter and University of Vermont Cancer Center spearhead campaign to promote early detection of lung cancer
- Article: UVM, Dartmouth, VTAAC Launch Public Education Program Promoting Early Detection of Lung Cancer
Why a Lung Cancer Screening Taskforce?
Meeting Information
The United States Preventative Services Task Force updated their guidelines in 2013 to recommend annual screening for lung cancer with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) in adults aged 55 to 80 years who have a 30 pack-year smoking history and currently smoke or have quit within the past 15 years. Screening should be discontinued once a person has not smoked for 15 years or develops a health problem that substantially limits life expectancy or the ability or willingness to have curative lung surgery. For more information on Lung Cancer, visit https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/lung/index.htm.
This group meets the second Thursday from 12 PM – 1 PM of every other even month.
If you’d like to learn more or attend these meetings, please email Hanna Snyder at coordinator@vtaac.org.
Lung Cancer Screening Taskforce Co-Chair
Dana Bourne, MPH (she/her/hers)
Tobacco Cessation Specialist, Vermont Department of Health
I am grateful to be a co-chair at VTAAC as I feel the cross-section between tobacco use and chronic disease is vast. By joining VTAAC, and now acting as a co-chair, I feel I am able to work with more partners to improve tobacco screening and cessation across the state, while also providing support for lung cancer screenings in an effort to reduce the burden of chronic disease for all Vermonters.
Lung Cancer-Related Goals in the Vermont Cancer Plan:
For information on Vermont’s resource for quitting smoking and other tobacco resources, visit 802 Quits.
Most Vermonters who smoke want to quit. You may be one of them, or know someone who is trying to quit tobacco, vaping or nicotine. Although it can be hard, with the right tools and support, you can do it. Whether you want to quit cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos, smokeless tobacco/chew, heat-not-burn tobacco products, nicotine pouches or vaping devices (either traditional or disposable types), 802quits, Vermont’s free quit smoking and tobacco resource, is here to help.
Research shows that it can take up to 11 tries before a successful quit. With each attempt you learn something new about yourself and what works, bringing you closer to a life without nicotine and tobacco. Quitting is possible; you just haven’t finished yet!
- Personalized counseling, tips and tools to quit any nicotine or tobacco product
- Free nicotine replacement patches, gum or lozenges, delivered directly to your home*
- Help creating a customized quit plan that works for you
- Interpretation services are available at 1-800-QUIT-NOW
- Translation services are offered at 802quits.org.
Starting is easy! Call 1-800-QUIT-NOW or visit the website.
*Some people who use tobacco also benefit from extended use of nicotine replacement therapy, an effective, approved and safe way to quit any form of tobacco product, even those that contain high levels of nicotine. Nicotine replacement therapy reduces withdrawal symptoms and increases quit success.
It is also no secret that smoking has a financial burden. Quitting can save you money in the long term and improve your finances. To learn more about the true cost of smoking, check out 802quits’ Smoking Calculator.