Dr. Charles McWilliams was at the beach on vacation in Tortola in the late 1990s when a piece of paper washed up on the sand caught his eye. It was a flier for the annual BVI Red Cross Prostate Cancer Screening. A few years later, he saw a similar flier with a phone number.
“As a specialist in the field, I felt the urge to call,” Dr. McWilliams said in a phone interview this week. The Oklahoma City urologist spoke with Dr. Robert Yakely, the Colorado doctor who volunteered with the screenings in their early years.
“[Dr. Yakely] said, ‘This is a call from heaven. The screening is this weekend, and I need help desperately,’” Dr. McWilliams said. “So we jumped in.”
Since that year, the screening has grown from about 350 people screened to nearly 1,000.
“It’s been a very rewarding experience for us,” Dr. McWilliams said. When his daughters were younger, they joined his wife volunteering alongside local volunteers to help patients fill out forms.
Dr. McWilliams is one of about 60 volunteers who expect to help screen about 1,000 men in the territory starting tomorrow and continuing Saturday at the Red Cross in Road Town, and at the Virgin Gorda Catholic Community Centre on Feb. 4, said Deniese Gardener Daniels, the Red Cross’ office administrator.
See the Jan. 26, 2012 edition for full coverage.