Free Prostate Screenings

by Bill Kettler | Mail Tribune | 07.25.2006

Despite Monday's triple-digit heat, more than 150 men came to a sun-baked asphalt parking lot to be tested for prostate cancer.

The National Prostate Cancer Coalition brought one of its mobile testing laboratories to Medford's Winco Shopping Center as part of a national campaign to encourage men to be tested for a cancer that's the second most common in males (behind skin cancer) and the second most deadly (only lung cancer causes more deaths).

Free screenings will be available again today from 8:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. in the big motor home parked at Winco, 235 E. Barnett Road. No appointment is necessary.

Jamie Bearse, a spokesman for the coalition, said the mobile lab came to Medford because Oregon has one of the lowest rates of screening for prostate cancer, which can almost always be cured if it's discovered in its early stages. Bearse said only 42 percent of Oregon men over age 50 are screened for prostate cancer, compared to about 60 percent of men over 50 in top-ranking states such as Florida, Delaware and Connecticut.

Bearse said Oregon may have a lower testing rate than other states because insurers were not required to pay for the tests until the Oregon Legislature passed a bill in 2005 that requires insurers to pay for such exams. In general, states that require insurers to pay for the tests have higher screening rates.

Bearse said men's general attitude of invulnerability tends to make them reluctant to be tested for a disease that has few symptoms until it becomes deeply entrenched.

"If we get told one in six will get prostate cancer, we feel bad for the other five because, 'It's not gonna be me,' " Bearse said.

The test itself also puts some men off. Physicians insert a gloved finger into a man's rectum to determine whether the gland has developed tumors, which can be felt as hard lumps.

"Some guys just don't want to have the test done," Bearse said.

Testing also includes drawing blood to determine how much of a chemical called prostate-specific antigen is present. A high PSA count can be an indication that cancer is present.

Men who came to be tested Monday were spared the digital rectal exam. Janelle Abriani, who coordinates the mobile testing program for the National Prostate Cancer Coalition, said efforts to recruit local doctors to do the exams were unsuccessful.

Many of the Rogue Valley men who came to be tested were familiar with the need for regular testing. Mike Brown, an Ashland carpenter, said he decided to be tested because he hadn't had an exam during the past year. Ed McBride, a retired chemist who recently moved to Medford, said his wife told him to come, and he hadn't been tested for several years.

That's not always the case, said Randy Ellis, who drove the mobile lab from Ohio to Medford. Too many men avoid being tested because "as long as everything's working right they don't think they have a problem," Ellis said. "They don't understand that if we can catch it, it's almost 100 percent curable. If you wait until you have symptoms, then it's guaranteed you're going under the knife."

Copyright 2006 Mail Tribune