Colorado Colorectal Screening Program

The Colorado Colorectal Screening Program began in 2004 screening uninsured people by linking community primary care clinics to endoscopists. Funding comes from an additional tax on tobacco.  Since its beginning in 2004, CCSP has screened 6,850 people.

The program estimates that it has prevented 180 cases of colorectal cancer and 80 deaths.

Primary focus is on the uninsured 50 to 64, but colonoscopies are also offered to high-risk people under 50.  Program participants need to have incomes below 250 percent of poverty. Continue reading…

Posted by Kate Murphy on March 23rd, 2009
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Tags: screening

This Week’s Colorectal Cancer News in Brief: March 20

This week we’re reporting on a cement that eases pain from bone mets, a successful smoking cessation program before surgery, and survival rates for diabetics with colorectal cancer.

Baylor College of Medicine is making it easier for people to schedule colonoscopies, and the University of Pittsburgh Medical School is testing a vaccine to prevent colon cancer.

During Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month there are many community screening programs being promoted, including some with free colonoscopies.  If you’ve waited . . . now’s the time to schedule that screening and protect yourself from colorectal cancer.  Screening prevents colorectal cancer as well as finding it early when it can be most easily cured.

Continue reading…

Posted by Kate Murphy on March 20th, 2009
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Wyoming Asks: Pledge to Screen for Colorectal Cancer

Men and women in Wyoming are encouraged to take the 2009 Pledge to Screen for Colorectal Cancer. People who complete the pledge receive information and a blue “buddy bracelet” to remind them to be screened.

Residents of Wyoming who are uninsured or whose insurance doesn’t cover colonoscopy screening may be eligible for the Wyoming Colorectal Cancer Early Detection Program (WCCEDP). Eligible residents have lived in Wyoming at least one year, have incomes below 250 percent of poverty, and are over 50. People under 50 can also participate if they have special family or personal health histories. Continue reading…

Posted by Kate Murphy on March 11th, 2009
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Tags: colorectal cancer awareness, screening

Bottom Line Poetry Contest

Inspired?  Got some special words about colonoscopies?

Digestive Care gastroenterologists in Florida want to hear your poems . . . and will award $500 for the best new poem featuring colonoscopies during Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month.  Or the winning poet can have a free colonoscopy. Continue reading…

Posted by Kate Murphy on March 11th, 2009
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Tags: colorectal cancer awareness

March — It’s Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month

Tell a Friend that March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month

It’s March 1, the first day of a busy Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month.

It’s time to celebrate our successes and then push even harder to end suffering and death from colon and rectal cancer.

For the tenth year, Congress has declared March to be Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, and we’ve come a long way in those ten years.  From a disease that everyone was too embarrassed to talk about, we’ve seen colonoscopies on TV, explanations of how screenings prevent colon cancer illustrated with mashed potatoes and peas, and Blue Stars of Hope popping up everywhere. Continue reading…

Posted by Kate Murphy on March 1st, 2009
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