Felix Burda Award for KIT Employee Cancer Prevention Initiative:

Volker List and Andrea Stahl of the Medical Services Unit at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology have received the German Cancer Prevention Award. Their special, well-thought-out promotion of bowel cancer prevention organised in addition to daily prevention routine and the high participation rate convinced the Felix Burda Award jury. Since 2003, the Felix Burda Foundation annually awards the most successful and most innovative projects in the field of bowel cancer prevention: From out of more than 60 applications, the KIT's "Bowel Cancer Prevention 2009 and 2010" promotion was nominated by the jury in the category of "Prevention at Work", one of five award categories. On the present-day Campus North of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, a bowel cancer prevention promotion was organised for the third time in 2009. The Medical Services Unit broadened the audience for the prevention promotion to include all employees over 40 years of age. Moreover, the stool test gadget and all necessary information were sent via internal mail to the employees at their workplaces personally, relieving them from having to come to the first-aid station for collection. It appears that this reduced the inhibition threshold considerably: The participation rate amounted to 52% of the 2,400 employees contacted. Furthermore, the promotion activity was augmented by presentations on bowel cancer prevention and on risk factors such as a lack of physical exercise and bad eating habits. The tests were fully evaluated by the Medical Services Unit's own laboratory. In the event of a positive result, the Medical Services Unit provided comprehensive medical discussions with the KIT's physicians, an offer most of those addressed took advantage of.

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