To recognize colon cancer awareness month, the Endoscopy Unit at Pen Bay Medical Center is having an open house Sat., March 24 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. All interested community members are invited to learn more about the prevention of colorectal cancer and the colonoscopy procedure, which is used to screen for colon cancer.
Information will be provided on healthy eating and how people can participate in a program that provides free colon cancer screening.
Pen Bay endoscopy staff will be present to answer one’s questions about colonoscopy. Come and learn from a physician, the unit’s nurse manager, Carol Dodge, Barbara Young, RN, and endoscopy technician Cindi Lachance, CNA. The event will also include videos of the procedure, tours of the unit and rooms, door prizes and healthy refreshments.
Worldwide, colorectal cancer is diagnosed in more than a million people each year, and more than 500,000 die of the disease. Colonoscopy, in which a flexible tube is used to inspect the colon and rectum and remove worrisome polyps, is recommended for adults older than age 50 (or at younger ages for those at increased risk).
Colorectal cancer usually arises from existing polyps. The progression from a polyp to a cancer usually takes 5-10 years. Finding and removing polyps during this window of time reduces the incidence and mortality of colorectal cancer.
A recent study involving more than 3600 people looked at the effect of colonoscopy in a “real-world” community-based medical care setting. The researchers found that the risk for colorectal cancer was reduced by more than 50 percent in those who underwent colonoscopy in the previous 10 years.
Please take this opportunity to see a “real-world” community healthcare setting and learn more about this life saving screening tool.
For more information, call Barbara Young at 596-8424.
Pen Bay Medical Center is the leading regional referral hospital in Midcoast Maine and a member of the not-for-profit Pen Bay Healthcare family of services, which includes Pen Bay Physicians & Associates, Kno-Wal-Lin Home Care and Hospice, Quarry Hill Retirement Community and the Knox Center for Long Term Care.
Through these organizations, and with a staff of more than 100 outstanding physicians and more than 1500 healthcare professionals, Pen Bay is able to provide the people of Midcoast Maine with a continuum of both routine and specialty patient-centered medical services.
A member of the MaineHealth system, Pen Bay Medical Center ranked in the top 10 percent for quality and safety among the more than 1,000 hospitals in 43 states that participated in a 2011 survey by the Leapfrog Group. Pen Bay also ranked fourth out of 37 hospitals in Maine. For more information, please visit www.pbmc.org.
