Screening for Cancer in Underserved Communities [Video]

When it comes to cancer, “Early detection and screening directly affects the outcome of what’s going to happen.” It’s one of the reasons why Debi Wilson, the VP of Operations at the Lee Health Cancer Institute said our program is much more than just our facilities. “Screening is about going out into the community to the patients that do not want to come into the facilities for fear, cultural, a lot of barriers, social economic barriers, even their own belief system does not. So, by partnering with other people in the community, it gets us in communities that we cannot do.”

This year we were awarded a $75k grant by the American Cancer Society to help screen for cancer in underserved communities. “We’re going to use our own residency program going out into the community, to the Suncoast community, and take cancer screenings there. We’ll be doing lung cancer screenings there. We’ll be doing colorectal screenings there, along with just other general health needs such as blood pressure. Maybe we’ll be able to help somebody with high blood pressure, find somebody with high cholesterol or blood sugar problems,” said Wilson.

Wilson said being out in the community shows a level of trust and service. “I think one of the most important things about being employed by Lee Health is owning our responsibility back to the community, meaning we are the largest safety net hospital in Southwest Florida. And that means you have a responsibility to your community to make sure you’re providing good health care.”

While March’s health fair will be in Suncoast Estates, additional ones are planed throughout the year. You can learn more on leehealth.org/cancercare.

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Lee Health in Fort Myers, FL is the largest network of health care facilities in Southwest Florida and is highly respected for its expertise, innovation and quality of care. For more than 100 years, we’ve been providing our community with personalized preventative health services and primary care to highly specialized care services and robotic assisted surgeries.

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