Free colorectal at-home cancer screening kits will be available for pick up at a drive-thru event at Jacksonville Memorial Hospital starting tomorrow.
Director of Community Health Lori Hartz says the hospital partners annually with the Mia Ware Foundation to make the kits available: “This is a program that the hospital supports annually in partnership with the Mia Ware Foundation to offer these free cancer screening kits for colorectal cancer. No appointment is necessary. This is very convenient because you can just drive through the Jacksonville Memorial Hospital main entrance circle drive. You can stay in your car and give us a little information. We will hand you a home test that you can take home and conduct the test yourself. You mail it back to our lab and the results are processed, which you will receive in approximately 2 weeks.”
Hartz says its a way for early detection of colorectal cancer to increase survival: “Colorectal cancer is curable, especially so if it’s caught early. This cancer screening can be your first steps towards preventing and being treated for colorectal cancer if you have it in the early stages. One in 23 men and one in 25 women will develop colorectal cancer in their lifetime.”
The free at-home test kits will be distributed from 4-6PM tomorrow and 9-11AM on Friday in the circle drive at the hospital’s main entrance.
Colon cancer is the second leading case of cancer deaths in the U.S. If detected early, 90% of those deaths are preventable. According to the American Cancer Society, people who are at average risk for colorectal cancer should start regular screenings at age 45 and continue through age 75.