Mission

THE MISSION OF CANCER PATIENTS ALLIANCE (CPA) IS FOCUSED ON IMPROVING HEALTH OUTCOMES FOR CANCER PATIENTS THROUGH CANCER EDUCATION, ADDRESSING HEALTH DISPARITIES TO ENABLE CANCER PATIENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES TO BECOME ACTIVE PARTNERS IN THEIR MEDICAL CARE. CPA focuses on improving health outcomes for cancer patients. As cancer is the number 1 cause of death among U.S. Latinos, a vast majority of those we serve are low-income Latinos, immigrants, farmworkers, and indigenous Mexicans/Central Americans who live and work in Monterey County, California, yet are concentrated in the Salinas Valley and Seaside/Marina. Latinos comprise 89% of Salinas Valley's population and over 45.7% in Seaside, as they support our agriculture and tourism industries in low-wage jobs. Farmworkers often only privately admit they have substantive unprotected pesticide and chemical exposure in their jobs that increases their likelihood of contracting cancer; nearby communities also experience this exposure. Although employed, 25% of these residents live below the poverty line. Adequate (or often any) cancer treatment or care is lacking among low-income Latinos, farmworkers and their families working and living in our communities; these are the people we serve.