HARRISBURG, Pa. — The City of Harrisburg Health Office and the Penn State Cancer Institute Office for Health Equity will host a free colorectal cancer screening and education event. They want to remind people of the importance of catching colon cancer early.
The event will be held at the Martin Luther King City Government Center building lobby from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Organizers will have free at-home colorectal screening tests and will be reminding people the age to begin screening has recently been lowered.
The American Cancer Society lowered the recommended screening age from 50 to 45. The CDC reports that millions of Americans are not getting screened as recommended and are missing the chance to prevent colon cancer or find it early.
At the event, the Penn State Cancer Institute Office for Health Equity will be giving out free FITKITS, which are at-home, non-invasive fecal test kits. Once you take the test at home, you send it off to a lab and then the lab will contact you with your results and the next steps you should take.
"What we know is screening will decrease the number of individuals diagnosed with late stage cancer and if detected early colorectal cancer is 90% curable," Lorna LeMelle, community outreach and engagement manager with the Penn State Cancer Institute Office for Health Equity said.
The outreach event will also focus on getting African Americans screenings. Colorectal cancer disproportionately affects Black Americans at a higher rate. They have a 20% higher likelihood of getting colorectal cancer and a 40% death rate compared to other racial groups in the U.S.
More information on what to know and look out for when it comes to colorectal cancer can be found here.