Oneonta goes blue to raise colon cancer awareness
Mar. 26—March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, and Main Street in Oneonta turned blue to celebrate Friday, March 25.
Rebecca Hess, Rebecca Barringer, Monique Misner and Mark Kirkby, employees of the Cancer Services Program, set up a booth in Mueller Plaza from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. They were there to educate people about the disease and sign up people 45 and older for free take-home colorectal cancer screening test kits. During the event, people could answer trivia questions to win prizes of either goody bags or gift certificates to businesses along Main Street or regional businesses. The booth also included healthy snacks, a diagram of a colon showing different diseases a person could get, and literature about the Cancer Services Program.
"Some businesses joined us by placing a star in a window, each with a different fact about colon cancer," said Hess, outreach and education specialist at Cancer Services Program.
According to the American Cancer Society, colon cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer in the United States and 149,500 people were newly diagnosed in 2021.
"Colon cancer can be prevented," Hess said. The most effective way is by screening, she said. During a colonoscopy, a doctor can remove polyps before they turn into cancer, she said. The age to begin screening for cancer was at 50, but was lowered to age 45 last May, she said. The Cancer Services Program started covering screening at age 45 in January.
The Cancer Services Program provides breast, cervical and colon cancer screening at no cost to men and women who have no insurance or are underinsured. The program pays for colorectal cancer screening kits for people age 45 to 75 at average risk of cancer. The kits test people's stool for blood. If a person is at a high risk for cancer, or if the at-home test kit results comes back positive, the program pays for a follow-up diagnosis, Hess said. If someone is diagnosed with colon cancer, the outcome and treatment have improved, she said. If a person is diagnosed with cancer, the program helps the person, if eligible, enroll in the state Medicaid Cancer Treatment Program. The person is enrolled in this program throughout treatment.
"Insurance shouldn't be an issue," she said.
One person who stopped by the booth said she uses the program for her yearly cancer screening. "It's a great program," Stacey Smith said. "I have used the service every year for the past three years. It's so convenient. You make an appointment and just show up."
For more information about the Cancer Services Program, or to sign up for free testing, call 888-345-0225.
Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221. Follow her @DS_VickyK on Twitter.
