1. Introduction and Welcome:  Dr. Abraham Dalu started the meeting off by having everyone introduce themselves.  He then went over the items on the agenda.  He then opened the floor to Marva and Dr. Kola for announcements.
   
   
2. Announcements:

-          Flip Charts: Marva talked about the breast and cervical cancer flip chart.  She said they received a 10,000-dollar grant that allowed them to reproduce the charts.  She said there would be a companion guide to go along with it.  She passed the charts around and allowed everyone to glance at them.

-          Health Disparities Grants: Dr. Kola went over the Health Disparities Grants.  He said the Idea is to foster collaboration between the University of Minnesota and community organizations.  Several grants came in and a review group was put together to look over the grants.  Half of the reviewers were from community organizations and the other half were from the university.  Out of the grants reviewed five were selected for funding.  He went over the five grants.  They are:

·         Translating Research to Action: Reducing Recreational Tobacco Use in the Urban American Indian Community

·         Community Partnerships to Prepare for Pharmacogenomic Studies in the Hmong Community

·         Wise kids eat well

·         Using Photovoice to Document Perceived Routes of Pesticide Exposures and Health Concerns among Mothers form Minnesota's Red River Valley

·         The Family Education & Diabetes Series (FEDS) Project: A  Pilot Investigation.

He said the total grant amount was 90,000 dollars, 12-20,000 each grant, and the grants will kick in within 2 weeks and be good for a year.

3. Reports from Work Groups: 

-          Pap Team Projects: Makeisha went over the cervical cancer flip charts.  She said they are in the process of determining costs for the user's guide that accompanies the flip chart.  She said they plan on showcasing the manuals when they are complete.  Makeisha said they are working on simplifying cervical screening guidelines.  She said there are discrepancies on when and whether we should be using HPV tests. She said the next step is to work together to come up with a toolkit that can be given to those that have questions about cervical cancer screenings.  Makeisha said the cervical screening resources database will be up and running soon.  If your organization is interested in spreading the word contact Mary Winnett.  Makeisha said there are 3 focus groups completed about how to  get cervical cancer information to Muslim women.  She talked about the SE MN Latino project which is project created to increase cervical cancer screening among rural women.  The next event is scheduled for June 27^th from 6-8pm and will be held in Rochester at the Public Health building.

-           St. Cloud Initiatives: Reporting from St. Cloud:  Gay Lynn spoke about the Building Bridges project.  She announced new members Fartun Hussein, Sr Adela Gross, and Socorro Felton to the group.  She said they completed the 2005-2006 building bridges evaluation and it is now available.  They were able to get a new medical system to join in Cold Spring.  She said they had their 3^rd annual Faith-Based Screening event.  They were able to get 30 women screened, which is up quite a bit from a couple years ago.  She said they are working closely with parish nurses to spread the word about the event.  They had an event at Centro Hispano Melrose.  The Melrose event had 18 women that were eligible to get screened.

-          Dialogue for Action: Colorectal Cancer in American Indians in Minnesota:  Marva said the dialogue will occur in Mille Lacs on September 11^th and 12^th.  Incidence and mortality from colorectal cancer is extremely high in American Indians in Minnesota.  We really want to focus on talking with tribal community members. We have 11 sovereign American Indian nations here in Minnesota.  This is the first time we are getting all 11 tribes together to talk about and focus on an issue.  This event is limited specifically to Native Americans.  The expectation is that an action plan will develop from the Summit. 

-          Summit Debriefing:  Liz went over the cancer summit.  She said it was the biggest summit yet with around 350 people there.  They had 60 exhibits.  She said that people come to the summit seeking professional development and to network.  About the same number of people attended each session.  She said a lot of the people there were impressed by the diversity at the summit.  She is interested in getting input for the summit for next year.  She asked the health disparities task force if they had any input.  Marva suggested that all the task forces should have their own table.  Makeisha suggested that we highlight things that we are progressing on or need help with, instead of focusing on what we have done.  Roshan suggested providing printing support to those that may have difficulty creating abstracts or posters.  Carlos suggested getting all the presentations into a notebook.

4. MDH Update on Cervical Cancer Vaccine Issues: 

-          Mary Winnett answered some of the questions that were brought up last time about the HPV vaccine.  The vaccine is marketed towards adolescent girls.  She said that those speaking at community meetings need to have a clear cohesive message about the vaccine.  She said the CDC is a great resource for information about the vaccine.  She said that there have been no adverse effects in those that got the vaccine.  She said that an issue could come with parents getting offended that the vaccine is recommended for such young girls.  There are ways to get the uninsured or underinsured access to the vaccination.  However, underinsured are of particular worry once they hit 18, because it becomes difficult for them to gain access to the vaccine. 

5. Discussion: 

-          Dr. Abraham Dalu announced that this would be Megersa’s last task force meeting.  He then moved into discussion questions.  Roshan asked if moving forward next year should we be thinking about focusing on other types of cancer.  He suggested networking and talking about other cancers, particularly prostate.  Marva said there are individual projects going on around prostate.  One problem is there is controversy over how to use PSA for screening.  There are also so many different treatments for prostate and not one unified choice.  Liz suggested that we focus on cancer plan objective #9 which relates to delivering consistent and appropriate messages that help men make informed choices about prostate cancer screening and follow-up.    It was also brought up that there are disparities with minorities higher education and entering the health/medical field.  Megersa was wondering what would happen with the community health workers.  He said training them is one thing but having money to hire them is another.

6. Thank you and closing statement: 

-          Dr. Abraham Dalu said the next meeting would be on September 20^th.  He said that it is important to bring feedback from the communities.  He wanted everyone to think about how what were doing aligns with what communities really want.