KEHEWIN – Screen Test is taking its services one step further.
This year, the mobile mammogram unit will be expanding to offer cervical and colorectal screening, in addition to breast cancer.
“It’s like a one-stop shop. You can come to one place and have breast screening, cervical screening, and colorectal screening,” described Joan Hauber, manager for Screen Test.
The testing is being offered as part of an Alberta Health Services’ (AHS) project in order to see how effective integrated screening is.
AHS is mainly focusing on the north zone this year, and have added Kehewin Cree Nation to their list of places to stop on June 9 and 10.
According to Hauber, the unit travels to 60 northern Alberta communities. The integrated screening is being offered to any of these regions, however, not all have signed up. For some areas, COVID is a consideration when determining not to add cervical and colorectoral screening.
But when it comes to Kehewin, Hauber said it will work.
In addition to offering their breast cancer screening at their mobile unit, Screen Test will have a nurse practitioner on-hand inside the Kehewin Health Centre where they’re set-up to conduct cervical screening and offer colorectal screening.
“Screening is designed to either find cancers early, or in the case of colorectal and cervical screening, it can actual find pre-cancerous conditions,” expressed Hauber. “The reason it’s so important for people to be screened is if they do have a disease like cancer, we want them to be able to find it early... Finding a cancer early or even before it’s become cancerous... your outcomes are so much better and your chance of survival is so much better.”
Your treatment options also change when cancer is caught early-on, she said.
How to book
Hauber stressed that due to the pandemic, they’re unable to take walk-ins this year. She encouraged women between the ages of 50 and 74 to call 1-800-667-0604 to book an appointment.
Those coming for a mammogram go directly to the Screen Test trailer parked at the Kehewin Health Centre. However, patients are asked to wait in their cars until a technician calls them in.
“If they booked for cervical and colorectal screening, then they would just go into the Kehewin Health Services building... and we have a nurse practitioner there who, depending on what they’ve booked for, will either do a PAP test for them or will talk to them a little bit about their colorectal history and if they’re eligible for colorectal screening.”
If the person is eligible for a colorectal screening and are wanting it done, they will be sent home with a Fecal Immunochemical Test (FIT).
“It’s a little kit with a stick and a container and they just take a small stool sample in the convenience of their own home,” Hauber detailed.
The need to screen
“Our big thing is don’t put it off, make sure you get it done on a regular basis, because if you do have something, you probably won’t have any outward symptoms when it’s really small and at the very beginning stages, and that’s when we want to catch it,” stated Hauber. “Don’t wait until you have symptoms and something goes wrong, get screened when it’s available to you.”
