The McLeod Healthy Lungs Initiative (HLI) program received the 2025 Health System Excellence Award from the South Carolina Cancer Alliance recently. This award recognizes the excellent work of the McLeod HLI program in providing education about lung disease and life-saving screenings for people throughout the Pee Dee and Coastal regions of the state. In addition, the Alliance noted the vastly improved early-stage lung cancer detection rate at McLeod Health since the program began — HLI has shown that patients who get regular screenings have a 70% chance of early detection, meaning screeners are far more likely to be eligible for potentially curative treatment if they do receive a cancer diagnosis. This award is a testament to the hand-in-glove work of different specialties operating together to produce beneficial outcomes for our McLeod patients, including Pulmonology, Oncology, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Radiation Oncology, Radiology, Pathology and Nurse Navigators.

Image: The McLeod Healthy Lungs Initiative Team, from left to right, includes Yarrow Babb, PA; Dr. Srinivas Kolla; LaKesha Franks, RN; Noah Kleckner; Christy Buffkin, RN; Karen Snider; Dr. Vinod Jona; Dr. Virginia Clyburn-Ipock; Dr. David Arrington; and Dr. Rajesh Bajaj.