For Humphry Leue, the Cancer Screening Project he helped launch last week is meaningful on a very personal level. “I myself was diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer about two years ago because of early testing,” he said during a press conference at the Dr. D. Orlando Smith Hospital.
“I’m happy to say that I’m cancer free now.”
His words were followed by a round of applause in the room.
Others are not as lucky as Mr. Leue. In fact, most people diagnosed with cancer in the Virgin Islands have already reached stage three or four — the most advanced stages in which survivability rates are much lower, Health and Social Development Minister Vincent Wheatley said during the Feb. 5 press conference.
The Cancer Screening Project is part of the Rotary Club of Tortola’s bid to help change that.
The club has already allocated $77,000 for the effort, which will be divided among three areas: prevention (education); early detection (screening and testing); and remediation (treatment), according to Mr. Leue, a past president of the club. The club’s annual Grand Affair fundraiser next month will raise more funds for the cause, he added.
Other efforts
Rotary is not the only VI organisation working to detect and prevent cancer, which doctors said is on the rise in the territory.
The BVI Red Cross provides free prostate cancer screenings along with other tests every two years at its Men’s Health Fair, which was held in Road Town on Friday and Saturday and in Virgin Gorda on Feb. 1.
Additionally, the Ministry of Health and Social Development — in collaboration with the BVI Cancer Society — launched its “United by Unique” three-year campaign this year with the goal of being a “bold, transformative and people-centred approach to cancer care,” Mr. Wheatley said in a Feb. 4 statement announcing the campaign.
Screenings
On Feb. 5, Mr. Wheatley also joined BVI Red Cross Director Stacy Lloyd, multiple Rotary Club of Tortola members, and doctors from the BVI Health Services Authority in discussing ongoing efforts to address cancer care in the VI.
BVIHSA acting CEO Dr. June Samuel was among the panellists who explained the importance of the Rotary club’s Cancer Screening Project.
“This project, at this point in time in our healthcare history in the BVI, is a signature project because we are definitely feeling the ravages of cancer,” she said. “We are losing persons, sometimes in the young, productive ages, to cancer.”
Dr. Aasha-Marie Flax-Miller provided details about four types of cancer screenings the BVIHSA is offering as part of the project: colorectal, breast, prostate and cervical.
“In terms of areas that this project is hoping to highlight, we’re looking at the more common cancers that are here in the BVI,” Dr. Flax-Miller said.
Pap smears, she added, are offered to screen for cervical cancer, which is mainly caused by the HPV virus and “essentially can be eliminated.”
To screen for breast cancer, the hospital’s third-floor imaging unit offers mammograms, ultrasounds and MRIs, according to the doctor.
“Along with our breast screening and our breast assessment, the BVIHSA has recently launched a triple assessment breast clinic,” she said. “And this is open to all persons that need to be assessed, whether it is that they have a mass or not, and that is the first Tuesday in every month.”
Most women should start breast-cancer screenings at 40 years old, but those with increased risk can begin earlier, according to the doctor.
Most common cancer
Colorectal cancer, she said, has been “highlighted as the number one cancer here in the BVI.” The tests offered for this disease include upper and lower gastrointestinal endoscopies, FIT [fecal immunochemical tests], and fecal occult testing, according to Dr. Flax-Miller.
For prostate cancer screenings, “men should start anywhere between 40 and 45 having that baseline PSA [test] — and that’s a blood test,” Dr. Flax-Miller said.
BVIHSA cancer specialist Dr. Fredrik Seuffer, who spoke after Dr. Flax-Miller, explained that the BVIHSA offers colonoscopies on Mondays and Fridays. This screening is recommended for men above the age of 45 or 50, Dr. Seuffer said.
Highlighting the value of the Rotary programme, Dr. Seuffer said he has known patients to cancel colonoscopy appointments due to the cost of the co-payment.
Mr. Leue, who spoke after Dr. Seuffer, expanded on the doctor’s comment regarding the cost of care.
“We do see that, in too many cases, patients don’t get the care that they need because of financial reasons — not because of decisions that they make otherwise or that they’re not concerned about their health,” Mr. Leue said.
Funding through the Rotary Club of Tortola will be made available to people in need of financial assistance, Mr. Leue said.
This offer, he said, should mean that “no one should then be in a position where just because they can’t afford to — or at that particular moment, can’t afford the copay — that they not get the care that they need.”
Mr. Leue explained that the funds will be distributed directly from the Rotary Club to the BVIHSA.
“The funds will be basically funnelled between the club and the relative facility so that it’s streamlined in that kind of way,” he said.
Asked if the payment system could slow the process for providing care, Rotary Club of Tortola President Abby O’Neal said that would not be the case.
“HSA will be doing what they need to do knowing that [the Rotary Club of Tortola] have funds available, and then we will pay a bill at the end of each month,” Ms. O’Neal said.
Education
She added that education is another cornerstone of the programme.
“We have to understand the importance of annual screenings: what symptoms are trying to show us and how nutrition and exercise keeps us healthy,” Ms. O’Neal said. “Our goal is to have a healthier community.”
Dr. Samuel added that she was glad to hear the project had an education component.
“We have to educate people and continue to educate, because I think it is unfortunate and almost a travesty that ‘x’ number of years after the inception of NHI that offers access to care, we — instead of seeing a decrease — we’re actually seeing an increase in cancer presentation numbers,” Dr. Samuel said. “And what is worse is persons presented, as the minister said, as stage[s] three and four.”
Mr. Wheatley also highlighted the importance of collaboration among nonprofit organisations and health services.
“It is through these kinds of partnerships that we achieve our goals of prevention, reduction, towards elimination,” Mr. Wheatley said. “Prevention, early detection are key.”
Ongoing efforts
The Rotary Club of Tortola hopes to keep the Cancer Screening Project running annually, Ms. O’Neal said.
To that end, she discussed the club’s upcoming Grand Affair fundraiser, which will be held on March 22 on Peter Island.
“Obviously we only have a certain amount of funds at this moment for this project, but we have to continually top it up,” she said.
Dr. Sharlon Lewis, a private healthcare practitioner and Rotary Club of Tortola member, was also a panellist at the press conference.
Complex in Road Town. (Photo: ALLISON VAUGHN)
Health fair
As part of other prevention efforts, free prostate cancer screenings were offered at the Men’s Health Fair on Virgin Gorda on Feb. 1 and in Road Town last Friday and Saturday.
“The Men’s Health Fair was never intended to take the place of healthcare practitioners,” BVI Red Cross Director Stacy Lloyd said on Feb 5. “It was more to raise awareness and to give men who don’t like to go to the doctor an easy opportunity to get screened.”
More than 10,000 men have been screened over the 22 Men’s Health Fairs that have been held over the past three decades, according to Ms. Lloyd.
After beginning with prostate screenings, the fair has since expanded to offer other services including checks for glucose, cholesterol, HIV, dental, vision, audio and others, Ms. Lloyd told the Beacon during the final day of the fair on Saturday.
Numbers of attendees to the fair have dropped since National Health Insurance became available, but Ms. Lloyd said this change is a “good thing.”
“We always wanted the guys to start having a relationship with their healthcare practitioners and doing their screenings on their own,” Ms. Lloyd said. “So this fair is doing exactly what it’s intended to do.”