Texts to promote bowel cancer screening
TEXT message alerts are being trialled as the latest weapon against one of Australia’s biggest killer cancers and to convince people to save their own lives.
With six out of 10 Australians turning their back on the free bowel screening kits that could save their life, Victorian GPs are being recruited to directly SMS their patients and appeal to them to complete the test.
THE region’s top chefs will join forces to create a special fourcourse meal to fundraise for Geelong hospital.
And with the theme ‘Around the world’, the menu at Geelong’ s
The SMS plan is one of four projects backed by the Andrews Government to lift screening rates as part of a wider $10 million fight against cancer to be announced today.
The University of Melbourne pilot will mean 50 to 60-year-olds living in Geelong, Ballarat and the Western Victoria Primary Health Network are sent a text message encouraging them to complete a bowel screening
Longest Lunch will showcase delicious flavours from across the globe.
Some of the restaurants involved this year include The Dunes, Mt Duneed Estate, Empire Grill and the Beach House Geelong. test as well as a short video depicting somebody with a positive experience from the kit.
University of Melbourne’s Dr Jennifer McIntosh said increased uptake of the National Bowel Screening Cancer Screening Program to 60 per cent would save an extra 24,800 lives by 2040.
“We are trying to find a new way of making it so people will actually do the test,” she said.
There are limited tickets left for the event, to be held at the Geelong waterfront on Friday, March 20.
For more information visit barwonhealthfoundation. org. au or call the foundation on 4215 8900.
“If we increased the screening rate to 60 per cent it would decrease the bowel cancer incidents by 33 per cent, or another 37,000 cases.”
When discovered in its early stages, bowel cancer is almost always overcome, with stage 1 bowel cancer having a 98 per cents survival rate and stage 2 a 90 per cent survival.
If unchecked, survival falls to 71 per cent by stage 3, and just 15 per cent by stage 4.
Pictured above: Mike Kawana from Fishermans Pier, The Dunes’ Jeremy Drummond, Sandy Melgalvis from The Beachhouse, The Gordon’s Leonie Mills, Daniel Duve from Mt Duneed Estate, Simon Fawcett from Bakehouse and Stuart North from Empire Grill.