Bayhealth Offers Free Cancer Screenings

Bayhealth Medical Center will offer free colorectal and prostate cancer screenings in late March and early April.  These free screenings are part of Bayhealth's efforts to educate the community and help people identify cancer in its earliest, most treatable stage.

"Colorectal cancer is the third leading type of cancer in the United States, and like many cancers, symptoms are rare in its early stages.  If people wait for symptoms before getting screened, it's more likely they will be diagnosed with advanced disease", according to Bayhealth Medical Center Cancer Screening Nurse Navigator, Paula Hess, MSN, RN, OCN. 

Hess says the best way to detect colorectal cancer early is to have regular screenings.  Cancer screening guidelines call for colorectal screenings for men and women starting at age 50.  African Americans and anyone with a family history of colorectal cancer or precancerous polyps, or a personal history of inflammatory bowel disease such as Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis, screening will need to start earlier.

Prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in men and the second leading cause of cancer deaths for men according to the American Cancer Society.  You should receive an annual screening if you're a man over the age of 50.  African-American man are twice as likely to die from prostate cancer and should begin screenings at the age of 40.     Family history of prostate cancer in a close relative (father, brother) may also require earlier screening.

These upcoming cancer screenings are free but registration is required.  To register, please call (302) 744-6752.

Colorectal Cancer Screenings:

Saturday, March 27, 2010

9:00 a.m.

Bayhealth Cancer Center

Milford Memorial Hospital

Saturday, April 3, 2010

9:00 a.m.

G.I. Associates of Delaware, PA

742 S. Governors Avenue, Dover

Prostate Cancer Screening:

Saturday, April 10, 2010

9:00 a.m.

Calvary Baptist Church, Corner of Queen & Fulton Streets, Dover