By Fred Guarino
The Lowndes Signal

Lowndes County men who missed out on the last free prostate cancer screening held at the Lowndes County Health Department in Hayneville will have another chance on Saturday, March 29.

Jackie R. Holliday, area administrator for the Alabama Department of Public Health, made the announcement at Monday’s regular meeting of the Lowndes County Commission.

According to Sherry Wilson, marketing coordinator for Urology Centers of Alabama, the 10-minutes the screening will take could be “10 minutes that saves a man’s life.”

Holliday said he recalled the support expressed by County Commissioner Brenson Crenshaw for the last prostate cancer screening held in Lowndes County.

While he said he did not think Lowndes County would be included in the rotation for screenings again this year, he was able to work it out.

Holliday said the screening will be held in cooperation with the Lowndes County Health Department and Urology Health Foundation.

“We’re very excited about that. Some of our local staff will be participating,” Holliday said.

Wilson said the screenings will be held from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the Lowndes County Health Department in Hayneville, and there will be two doctors on hand to do the physical examinations and two nurses to take the blood specimens.

Wilson said, “This will be our third year to be in Lowndes County to screen men. It’s real important that these guys come out because in the state of Alabama we’re number one for African American deaths from prostate cancer.”

She stressed that in Alabama it is anticipated there will be 3,760 new cases of prostate cancer in 2014 and that there will be an estimated 540 deaths this year, according to the American Cancer Society.

She said screenings begin at age 40, but men ages 36 or 37 will be screened.

Holliday said last time about 50 Lowndes County men participated in the screening. However, he said, such clinics have drawn more than 200 men in other areas such as Marengo County.

Holliday also told the Lowndes County Commission he will return in April to present the results of a recent health survey taken in Lowndes County and around the state and what it reveals.