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Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Free Prostate Cancer Screenings Monday at Sound Shore Medical Center
It's a good idea to find out what's up . .
This is National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month and here in Pelham we're raising awareness and participating.
Sound Shore Medical Center is offering free prostate screenings Monday, September 30. (The screenings originally were scheduled for today, but were postponed.) An advance appointment is required; Call Barbara Rohonczy at 914-365-3754. Appointments are limited and are available on a first-call, first-served basis.
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Pelham Civics member Joe Nunziata has been spreading the word about prostate screening for the past three years. September's Pelham Post announced that Joe volunteered his agency's creative and marketing talents to Ed Randall's Fans for the Cure charity and to the New York Yankees with creative radio, TV and posters promoting National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month at Yankee Stadium, where the team hosted free screenings earlier this month.
Yesterday at La Fontenalla, I ran into Joe and he told me how simple it is to get screened. "Such simple steps we can take, like learning about the disease and getting screened," Joe explained.
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Lately screening has become controversial. President Obama declared this "Prostate Cancer Awareness Month," but last May the US Preventive Services Task Force recommended against PSA-based screening for prostate cancer.
As a result, many primary care physicians no longer include PSA screening as a part of general or annual physical exams. But urologists continue to recommend it.
Over the weekend, I was visiting Lake Placid. At the beautiful Conference Center of Lake Placid, physicians were attending a continuing medical education update conference on primary care and neurology.
Check-in at Lake Placid Conference
I sat in briefly. One of the topics was" to screen or not to screen" for Prostate Cancer. Here's a 30-second iPhone vid I shot:
A primary care speaker presented statistics demonstrating no net benefits from PSA tests, while the urologist showed that checking PSA levels still is sound preventive medicine.
Confused?
Don't be.
My suggestion?
Call and schedule your free screening by Dr. Stephen Trauzzi, Sound Shore Chief of Urology and the Medical Center support staff. The urological exam most likely will include a manual check of the prostate and if something feels wrong to the doctor, he is likely to discuss it with you.
. . Perhaps I'll see you there Monday.
Pelham Blogger at 6:45 PM