Cancer Pathways is pleased to announce we have been awarded a generous two-year grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to expand our Cancer Happens program. This eLearning teen education program empowers teens about cancer risks and prevention, especially cancers that affect teens such as lung cancer, skin cancer and HPV.

More important now than ever is education on cancer prevention, cancer facts and the relationship of vaping and smoking to COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses.

“This course has helped many teenagers identify and seek medical help, many times resulting in finding early cancers,” says Anna Gottlieb, Executive Director of Cancer Pathways.

The grant funds will be concentrated on our online cancer education course with high-schoolers in the Yakima and South Sound regions.

Our Cancer Happens program has been offered, free of charge, since 2005 and has served more than 100,000 students at 101 high schools.

The course features a 50-minute presentation with additional activities provided if teachers choose to expand on the lesson. Some of the topics covered in the Cancer Happens course include understanding what cancer is and how it can impact teenagers, including risk factors, risk reduction, the importance of nutrition and exercise and how to more effectively communicate about illness.

Gottlieb says, “We want every teenager to understand these facts and help them change the trajectory of their health.”

For more information about the program and how to bring it to your high school, contact Anna Gottlieb at [email protected].