Cobb County Library/Winship Cancer Institute partnership results in 125-plus men screened for prostate cancer

PHOTO: Roy C. Barnes, Project Coordinator, Mobile Prostate Screening Program, Winship Cancer Institute and Jo Lahmon, South Region Manager, Cobb County Public Library

The Cobb County Public Library distributed the following news release about the success of the eight Winship Mobile Prostate Cancer Screening bus visits:

The recently completed series of eight Winship Mobile Prostate Cancer Screening bus visits in May and June to Cobb County Public Library locations resulted in the clinics serving 129 men.

Ahead of the final event in the series, organizers were committed to promoting the June 24 South Cobb Regional Library event to push the total significantly above the 100-men-tested milestone – and were successful in getting a community response with 32 men tested during the clinic at the library in Mableton.

The screening events for men ages 40-75 – a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test, no physical exam – are organized to eliminate barriers to prostate cancer detection and care, especially for men at high risk.

Launched in September, this Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University program is made possible through generous support of the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation and in collaboration with Mount Sinai Health System of New York.

The South Cobb event occurred as the Winship program closed in on its 2,000-men-tested milestone. The Winship program’s three-year goal is 10,000.

Cobb County Public Library locations are the first libraries in Georgia to host the Winship bus. Before the South Cobb event, the bus visited the Switzer, West Cobb, Powder Springs, North Cobb and Gritters libraries as well as the Sweetwater Valley Library clinic near the entrance of the City of Austell Threadmill Complex.

The Emory Winship mobile unit is scheduled to return to Switzer Library in downtown Marietta on Sept. 14 and South Cobb Regional Library on Sept. 28. Details about the Switzer and South Cobb clinics will be announced at a later date. September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.

For information on how organizations throughout Georgia can host the Winship Mobile Prostate Cancer Screening, go to winshipcancer.emory.edu.