News
OhioHealth hosts drive-thru cancer screening event
By: Megan Acker
Posted on:
ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) – Jose Rocha is careful about cancer.
“Cancer has been one of those elephants in the room always. My father passed away from cancer, my grandmother. … Any opportunity for screening, any opportunity to learn more information, I do take advantage of,” said Rocha, a music professor at Ohio University.
Rocha had plenty of opportunities to do just that at the Men’s Health Event last Friday. Hosted by OhioHealth, the drive-thru event encouraged men to seek healthcare. Organizers emphasized the importance of cancer screenings, with myriad options for connecting potential patients to providers.
“I love to come to these events because they provide education and empowerment,” said Dr. Jill Porter, a family physician who spent the afternoon performing the screenings.
“People just don’t have the knowledge of what screenings they need,” Porter said. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure … but we don’t always know what we need for prevention. … So events like this bring awareness.”
While skin cancer screenings were the only exams patients could have done at the event, there were plenty of resources for patients to get scheduled with a physician for screenings, preventative care or just general checkups. There were also insurance providers, smoking cessation services and nutritional care representatives present to help people get established.
Brittany Jarvis, administrative manager at the OhioHealth oncology center, was a lead organizer for the event and spent the afternoon showing participants around the plethora of tents.
“One person hadn’t been to a physician in over five years. We got him connected with some insurance resources and set up an appointment with primary care,” said Jarvis. “That alone was a big win.”
The event was similar to OhioHealth’s annual Brake for Breakfast, a drive-thru event in October that encourages women to get screened for breast cancer and conducts mammograms on site. Jarvis hopes the Men’s Health Event will achieve similar success.
“I would love to make this an annual event,” she said.
The idea certainly has its supporters. Rocha, healthy eating cookbook in hand, vowed he would “absolutely” be back next year if OhioHealth were to host again.