Reaching the community to reduce cancer deaths

The Parent Teacher Student Association and the National Junior Honor Society at Lawrence Road Middle School, in partnership with Assemblywoman Taylor Darling, brought a large roster of health service providers to their Cancer Awareness Day in the school’s general purpose room last Saturday.

The emphasis of the forum was on breast and prostate cancer.

“Women talk about breast cancer a lot,” said Lawrence Road Principal Dexter Hodges, “but we added prostate cancer to the program, because men are fearful of the test for prostate cancer. Our goal today is to encourage men and women to go out and get tested annually.”

Rooms were provided for babysitting and parent-child crafts, to encourage parents to come without worrying about child care during the presentations.

Scheduled presenters included Joseph Cosgriff, director of operations for Fans for the Cure, an online prostate cancer support resource.

“A lot of people don’t know about prostate cancer, and a lot of people know the wrong things,” Cosgriff said. ”Men respond to symptoms like needing to use the bathroom too much, or blood in the urine. Unfortunately, with prostate cancer, 90 to 95% of cases are symptom-free. You can only find it with a blood test.”

Cosgriff said men over 40 should regularly have their blood tested for the prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, to establish a baseline number. Subsequent tests would show whether the PSA level had elevated, and how fast, indicating possible need for treatment. The test can be easily be included as part of a man’s yearly physical. Fans for the Cure, or Medicaid, can help men who don’t have insurance.

Similarly, although home breast self-exams are helpful, “The more important thing is getting checked by a clinician for an annual exam,” said Northwell Health oncology nurse Maya Kazanjian. “A lower percentage of men than women get breast cancer, but men should do these exams as well. Looking in the mirror, daily showering, just examining and being familiar with your body, and speaking with your doctor if you notice any changes, is most important.”

Holding a forum at the school is an excellent technique for raising community awareness, according to Assemblywoman Darling.

“We know that our schools and our libraries are usually the best spaces to catch most of the community,” said Darling, through whom a mammogram machine was brought to the forum for on-the-spot exams. “So it’s meeting people where they are and speaking their languages to let them know we care.”

As far as possible, the health organizations that are invited to the forum will provide literature in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole, the languages most spoken in District 18, which Darling represents. Bilingual health workers would ideally come as well.

But outreach to children in the schools is also critical.

“The children are our best sound bites,” Darling said. “They bring their families in. They say, Abuela, I want to make sure that you check for breast cancer, or, Mom, we’re having an event and it doesn’t cost any money, so please come so we can make sure that everyone in our house is healthy.”