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OTTUMWA, IOWA -- Medical professionals, healthcare providers, cancer survivors and more gathered at Ottumwa Regional Health Center's McCreery Cancer Center for the Southeast Iowa Cancer Forum held by the Iowa Cancer Consortium Thursday.

Iowa Cancer Consortium is a non-profit organization that works to collaborate with medical groups across Iowa to lower cancer rates in the state.

They utilize an Iowa Cancer Plan that covers prevention, screening, treatment and quality of life issues.

"That really serves as our blueprint throughout the state, and we want to spread that to Ottumwa, Sioux City... the far reaches of Iowa to have people get involved in cancer control activities and we can hopefully reduce the burden of cancer in Iowa," said Rachel Schramm, Outreach Specialist from Iowa Cancer Consortium.

Thursday's forum covered hot-button issues like lung cancer and radon, and opened discussion to concerns specific to the Ottumwa area and to Southeast Iowa.

From 2004 to 2008, the population at risk for invasive cancers in Wapello County has decreased, but the actual number of cases has been on the rise. Schramm said she hoped forums like this one will streamline different groups towards working to one goal.

"We want everybody to learn about how they can prevent cancer, whether that's eating fruits and vegetables, being physically active but we also want to go through screening and treatment issues," she said. "We also want to talk about quality of life issues because we have so many cancer survivors in Iowa, we want to make sure they're taken care of as well."

For more information on Iowa Cancer Consortium, visit their website.