Cancer screening coach expected to return to the road next week
A regional bus that brings cancer screening and smoking cessation support to thousands of people who otherwise have difficulty accessing health services will be back on the road Feb. 11.
The Mobile Cancer Screening Coach, launched by Cancer Care Ontario, travels across southern Ontario to deliver critical cancer risk assessments to newcomers, the LGBTQ community, Indigenous peoples, low-income neighbourhoods and workplaces.
Since its inception in 2013, it has made stops in more than 55 communities — including Hamilton, Niagara, Haldimand and Brant, as well as Six Nations and Mississaugas of the Credit First Nations — and rendered cancer screenings to some 5,800 patients, according to data provided by Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS).
The program was on the brink of being shuttered in July 2019 after the province slashed its annual budget of $634,689 in a move that came as a surprise to local health experts and union leaders.
The Ministry of Health said at the time the coach was surplus to requirements, and cited the Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant region to be well-resourced in cancer screening sites.
But a nine-month review of the impacts of the bus on local communities conducted by the Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation — who paid for the coach after its budget was cut by the province — prompted the ministry to resume funding the program last March.
HHS spokesperson Wendy Stewart said the program was temporarily shelved at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic as provincial health officials ordered non-essential care services to halt operations or postpone appointments.
It returned last fall and, from October to December, completed roughly 220 appointments in communities that had high deferment rates for screenings amid the pandemic.
A tentative date to resume operations in early January — after routine maintenance and repairs to the coach over the holiday break — was pushed to Feb. 11 due to the province’s stay-at-home order.
The cancer risk assessments provided by the coach include everything from mammograms and Pap tests to colon screening kits.
Stewart said patients who wish to book a screening appointment can contact coach staff at 905-975-4467.