Southcoast Hospitals Group and Northeast Ear Nose & Throat Surgeons team up with Yul Brynner Head & Neck Cancer Foundation on Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week
| For Immediate Release | Contact: Joyce Faria Brennan |
| March 22, 2007 | 508-961-5270 |
| brennanj@southcoast.org | |
 Get this release in Word format |
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NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Southcoast Hospitals Group and Northeast Ear Nose & Throat Surgeons will be offering free head and neck cancer screenings on the Southcoast Health Van on Wednesday, April 18, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at CVS/Pharmacy, 1145 Kempton St. in New Bedford. Reservations are required for the screening. To register, call the Southcoast Wellness Line at 1-800-497-1727.
"Oral cancer is a major health problem in this country and one that most people aren't aware of," said Wendy Stern, MD, a surgeon at Southcoast and a member of Northeast Ear Nose & Throat. "It is vital that people — especially those who smoke — learn to recognize the signs and symptoms of this cancer and our screening offers a great opportunity for both education and a chance for early detection."
Dr. Stern noted that tobacco — including smokeless tobacco — and alcohol use are risk factors for head and neck cancers.
According to National Cancer Institute and the Yul Brynner Head & Neck Cancer Foundation, 85 percent of these cancers are linked to tobacco use. The foundation was created 20 years ago after actor Yul Brynner launched a crusade to educate the young people of the world on the effects of tobacco and its relationship to mouth and throat cancer. Brynner died in 1985 after a public fight with lung cancer.
Head and neck cancers are more common in men and in people over age 50. It is estimated that some 45,000 men and women in this country developed head and neck cancers in 2004. Black males have the highest incidence of head and neck cancers, with a survival rate over five years at 33 percent versus 55 percent for whites.
Some of the symptoms that are common in head and neck cancer include a lump or sore that does not heal, a sore throat that does not go away, difficulty swallowing and a change or hoarseness in the voice.
"As physicians, we need to educate the public about head and neck cancer and encourage people to get regular checkups and to eliminate high-risk habits like smoking," Dr. Stern emphasized.
The screening is sponsored in part by the Yul Brynner Head & Neck Cancer Foundation Inc. in honor of Head & Neck Cancer Awareness week.
To learn more about head and neck cancer visit http://www.headandneck.org/.
About Southcoast
Southcoast Health System, a not-for-profit charitable organization, is a community based health delivery system with multiple access points, offering an integrated continuum of advanced health services throughout Southeastern Massachusetts and East Bay, Rhode Island. It includes Southcoast Hospitals Group, formed in 1996 from the merger of Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River, St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford and Tobey Hospital in Wareham.
Southcoast has more than 40 ancillary facilities, including the Southcoast Health Van, home health care, hospice and infusion services, numerous outpatient medical services, an assisted living facility and a wellness center. For more information visit www.southcoast.org.
Southcoast is one of three community hospitals approved by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to perform open heart surgery and primary angioplasty beginning in Spring 2002.
Media Contact
Joyce Faria Brennan
Phone: 508-961-5270
Pager: 508-387-9605
Fax: 508-961-5876
brennanj@southcoast.org
