Minority Men More Likely to Get Prostate Cancer

Cancer Center offers free prostate cancer screening during Prostate Cancer Awareness Month

  The month of September, National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, should be an annual reminder of the staggering prostate cancer statistics that exist in our state, especially for African-American men. According to the American Cancer Society, not only is prostate cancer the most frequently diagnosed cancer among all men in Louisiana, but African-American males have a 60 percent higher risk of getting prostate cancer than their Caucasian counterparts and are more than twice as likely to die from it. Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center in Hammond is offering a free prostate cancer screening during September to help detect this cancer earlier, giving more men – especially African Americans – a chance at beating the disease. Prostate screenings are for men age 50 and older who do not have a doctor or have not been screened in the past 12 months. Those at higher risk such as African-American men and men with a family history of prostate cancer should consider being screened beginning at age 45. The prostate cancer screening includes a PSA (prostate-specific antigen) blood test and a DRE (digital rectal exam) performed by a doctor. Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center offers free prostate screenings throughout the year. The following free prostate screening is being offered during Prostate Cancer Awareness Month: Friday, September 18 Walgreens 1910 W. Thomas St. Hammond 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. No appointment necessary For more information, please call (225) 215-1234 or toll-free at (888) 616-4687. Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center is a regional cancer care organization that has been fighting cancer for over 40 years. With five centers in Baton Rouge, Covington, Hammond, Houma and Gonzales, its service area encompasses 18 parishes across southeast Louisiana.  For more information, please visit www.marybird.org.