A Partnership With the Power to Save Lives
For Tiffany Velez Rogers, Langley’s support means more than funding.
It means more screenings. More education. More people taking control of their health. And, ultimately, more lives saved.
As the Marketing Director at the Hampton University Proton Cancer Institute, Tiffany has seen firsthand what can happen when organizations come together around a shared commitment to the community. Through Langley’s support of the Institute’s annual health awareness event, that partnership is helping remove barriers to potentially lifesaving cancer screenings for people throughout Hampton Roads.
“The support that we’ve received from Langley is the largest single donation that we have received,” Tiffany said. “That allows us to directly impact the community, directly be able to provide more screenings, more resources, and ultimately save more lives.”
For an event that started with one type of screening and is now expanding to five, that support has helped turn an ambitious idea into a growing community resource.
A Mission Rooted in Hampton Roads
Tiffany’s connection to Hampton began long before she joined the Proton Cancer Institute.
She arrived in Virginia to attend Hampton University in 1997 and eventually made the Commonwealth her home. Years later, she found her way back to what she calls her “home by the sea,” becoming Marketing Director of the Hampton University Proton Cancer Institute.
For Tiffany, the role is deeply personal.
The Institute was founded by former Hampton University President Dr. William R. Harvey after he learned about proton therapy and began examining cancer statistics in Virginia. At the time, Portsmouth and Petersburg had particularly high mortality rates among African American men with prostate cancer.
Dr. Harvey assembled a team, raised $225 million and, in 2010, opened what Tiffany described as the first proton therapy center in Virginia and the only one owned and operated by an HBCU.
Since then, the Institute has treated thousands of patients.
“Being able to hear the bell ring every day gives me chills,” Tiffany said.
Her work allows her to carry forward the Institute’s mission of “easing human misery and saving lives,” while helping patients navigate one of the most frightening periods of their lives.
“Patients come into our doors and they think they’re going to die,” she said. “I get to hold their hand and help them figure out what this process is going to look like and what it’s going to feel like.”
Returning to the Why
That same mission inspired Tiffany to help create an initiative focused on prostate cancer education and early detection.
She wanted the Institute to return to one of the reasons it existed in the first place: helping address prostate cancer within the community.
The idea was simple but important. Make screening easier. Remove as many barriers as possible. Give men the information they need to understand why preventative care matters.
“All you got to do is show up,” Tiffany said. “If you have insurance, perfect. If you don’t, no worries.”
Education is an important part of that approach. Through the Hampton Roads Prostate Health Forum, participants learn about prostate health and screening before receiving their exams.
The goal is not simply to get someone screened once.
Tiffany wants people to leave understanding why they should continue making their health a priority year after year.
“Preventative care, knowing is power,” she said.
And the message Tiffany wants men to hear is personal.
“We need you,” she said. “We need you to make your health a priority, make those doctor’s appointments, come to the men’s health fair, get your screenings because we need you in life.”
One Conversation Creates a Partnership
Langley’s involvement began with a conversation.
Tiffany was attending an event where she was scheduled to speak about the health fair when she happened to sit beside Jerome, a Langley employee.
As they talked over lunch, Tiffany began sharing the story of Hampton Proton, the prostate cancer statistics affecting the region and her determination to reach more people through the event.
“I just needed help in doing that,” she said.
Jerome saw an opportunity for Langley to become involved.
“He immediately acted,” Tiffany said. “You don’t find that a lot.”
That introduction eventually connected Tiffany with other members of the Langley team and developed into a partnership that is now entering its second year.
For Tiffany, the connection felt natural because both organizations were focused on the same thing: improving lives in Hampton Roads.
“He immediately was like, ‘I want to help. What can I do to help you make this initiative and this dream that you have bigger?’”
Turning Resources Into Results
With support from Langley and other community partners, the health fair has continued to grow.
Last year, more than 400 people attended, and hundreds of men received prostate cancer screenings. Dozens of those screenings produced abnormal results, creating an opportunity for additional testing, follow-up care or treatment planning.
For Tiffany, those numbers represent much more than event statistics.
They represent people who now have information that could change the course of their lives.
“We would not have been able to screen as many men without Langley’s support,” she said.
Langley’s resources help cover the real costs associated with providing screenings, exams, vaccinations, staffing and other services. That has allowed organizers to expand both the size of the event and what it can offer.
What began with one screening is growing into an event offering five different types of cancer screenings: prostate, breast, skin, colorectal, and head and neck.
The event is also expanding beyond men. Tiffany noticed that many women attended previous events as caregivers, encouraging the men in their lives to get screened. This year, women will have opportunities to receive screenings as well.
The event has grown from three hours to four, giving organizers more time to provide services and health education.
“When we first started this health awareness fair four years ago, we had one offering and now we have five,” Tiffany said. “That’s a really big deal.”
Creating a Culture of Prevention
For Tiffany, the long-term goal is bigger than any single screening event.
She wants preventative care to become routine.
Some participants are already returning each year, treating the annual event almost like a standing doctor’s appointment.
That consistency creates another opportunity.
If community members already trust the Institute enough to return for prostate screenings, Tiffany believes the event can help introduce them to other preventative health services they may otherwise put off.
“They’re here,” she said. “Let’s try to educate them on all the different screenings that they should be thinking about.”
Alongside cancer screenings, Hampton University’s nursing program will provide services including blood pressure screenings and vaccinations, while community partners will provide additional education and resources.
Tiffany hopes participants leave equipped not only to make healthier decisions themselves, but to bring what they learn back to their families, churches and communities.
The objective is to “plant seeds of health and wellness,” she said, so people can return home better equipped to live healthier lives.
More Than a Credit Union
Before working with Langley, Tiffany admits she did not fully understand the organization’s role in Hampton Roads.
That changed through the partnership.
“I had no idea the impact that you guys make on the community,” she said. “And now being a partner with you guys, I see it, I hear it, I actually feel it.”
What stood out most was Langley’s willingness to act.
For Tiffany, the partnership demonstrates what can happen when community organizations recognize a shared mission and choose to invest in it.
“Langley is stepping up to the plate and saying, ‘I’m going to stand with you,’” she said.
That support means the Institute can reach more people, offer more screenings and give more community members access to information that could help save their lives.
But Tiffany sees another impact, too.
More screenings can mean earlier detection. Earlier detection can mean treatment. And successful treatment can mean something that cannot easily be measured on a spreadsheet.
More time.
“The more resources that we’re able to put into an initiative like this, the more offerings, screenings, resources that we’re able to provide to the community,” Tiffany said. That can ultimately mean “providing families with more family time.”
Standing With the Community
Today, when Tiffany thinks about Langley, she thinks about community.
She thinks about the conversation over lunch that turned into action. She thinks about hundreds of people showing up to take charge of their health. She thinks about the men whose abnormal screening results gave them the opportunity to seek further care.
And she thinks about what becomes possible when organizations decide that improving their community is a responsibility they share.
“If I was talking to a community member and they asked me about businesses and organizations that partner with communities, you would be the first on my list,” Tiffany said.
To her, Langley’s involvement demonstrates that being part of a community means more than simply doing business there.
“The foundation of who you guys are is community,” she said. “It’s all about, let’s do what’s right for Hampton Roads. Let’s do what’s right for these men in this initiative. Let’s do what’s right for people, for humanity.”
For Tiffany, that is the real impact of the partnership.
It is not simply helping fund an event.
It is helping someone get screened who might otherwise have waited. It is giving a family more information, more options and potentially more time together.
And it is standing alongside the people of Hampton Roads when their health, their families and their futures are on the line.