Engaging the Generations to foster cancer prevention, free cancer awareness, education and screenings for the entire family
BATON ROUGE, La. – Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center will host a free event, Engaging the Generations, June 17, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. at Greater King David Baptist Church, 222 Blount Road, Baton Rouge, LA 70807. Free cancer screenings, interactive sessions on cancer in black families and other resources will be provided by GMFS Mortgage, Geaux Ride and Greater King David Baptist Church. The event is being held during National Black Family Awareness Week, an Oncology Center of Excellence Project Community Initiative.
Following are the day’s planned activites:
- 9 a.m. – Skin, colorectal, prostate and breast cancer screenings
- 9 a.m. – Geaux Ride bike tours and blood pressure, glucose and BMI health checks and education stations
- 10:30 a.m. – Concurrent workshops for mothers/daughters/sisters and fathers/sons/brothers
- 11:30 a.m. – Luncheon with key note speaker and giveaways
“Cancer mortality rates continue continue to be above the national average for black people, so we are bringing together Mary Bird Perkins’ oncologists, community partners, sponsors and more to provide many resources to help prevent cancer and catch the disease in its earliest stages,” said Nicole Honore’, project manager, Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center. “It will take all of us to save lives of every generation of our black families, and together we can do it.”
Mary Bird Perkins has a long history of providing free cancer prevention, education and screening services to underserved populations through its Prevention on the Go program. Since 2002, Mary Bird Perkins provided more than 107,000 free cancer screenings and detected more than 800 cancers.
Honore’ also said that events offering so many services in one location are only made possible by the generosity of donors, such as GMFS Mortgage, a Mary Bird Perkins Corporate Champion.
“We’ve had cancer touch way too many people in our GMFS family, so if there’s anything we can do to prevent other families from being impacted by the disease, we want to do our part,” said Tee Brown, chief executive officer, GMFS Mortgage. “We are pleased to work with Mary Bird Perkins and others partners to make this event and many other iniatives happen to save more lives.”
For more information, contact Nicole Honoré at (225) 215-1250.
Visit pogo.marybird.com to create an account and sign up for a free cancer screening. All screenings require an appointment.
About Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center
Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center is a regional cancer care organization that has been fighting cancer for more than 50 years. The cancer care organization provides care at 10 centers in Baton Rouge, Covington, Gonzales, Hammond, Houma, Opelousas, Slidell, and Natchez, Mississippi, and its service area encompasses southeast Louisiana and southwest Mississippi regions. Mary Bird Perkins has a strategic affiliation with OneOncology and the largest radiation and medical oncology groups from across the area including exclusive partnerships with Southeastern Louisiana Radiation Oncology Group, which provides radiation therapy throughout Mary Bird Perkins’ service areas, Northshore Oncology Associates, serving St. Tammany and Washington Parishes, specifically the communities of Covington and Slidell and Louisiana Hematology Oncology Associates, which services the Greater Baton Rouge area. For more information, please visit www.marybird.org.