DAPHNE Sterling is 62, but has never been screened for cancer. In her mind she thought it was not important, but Wednesday she got a 'rude awakening' when she learnt that her unwillingness to be tested could prove fatal, as she could be living with cancer and not know it.

Sterling, a mother of three children and a resident of Clarendon, was one of more than 30 women who eagerly waited in line to make use of the free mammography and pap smear tests that were being offered to women who live in rural areas by the Jamaica Cancer Society, in collaboration with Scotiabank.

"I have never done the test because I believed that I didn't need to do one," Sterling told the Observer as she waited for her name to be called. "My sister persuade me to come because all the time I just think that I never have cancer. It just never pop up in my mind. But now I want to do it to make sure that I don't have cancer."

Yvonne Watson, a radiographer at the Jamaica Cancer Society, said that this is a typical story for some women living in rural areas across the island who do not have access to cancer screening, leaving them at risk of developing cancer and not being able to get early treatment because of ignorance of their condition. This, she said is a grave concern.

"Most of them have never done a mammogram," she said. "One of my concern is that most times the woman will be 70 years old and she is having the mammogram for the first time because she has a problem and more times than not it is really cancer that they have. They did not pay attention to it [symptoms]."

The screenings were being offered at the launch of Scotiabank's Cancer Care Campaign at the bank's Spanish Town branch, that will target 1,300 rural women across Jamaica for cancer screening between now and October.
Yesterday, 30 pap smears and 30 mammograms were offered to women free of cost in Spanish Town, St Catherine.
For Cynthia Christie, a cancer survivor and a resident of Spanish Town, the free screening was a deeply appreciated break from all the expenses that come with her illness.
"I am a cancer patient and I have to do a mammogram two times a year," she said. "If I get through I would be very happy for that."

The screenings are provided through the Cancer Society's mobile mammography and pap smear units that will be visiting 21 Scotiabank branches on Wednesdays. Each branch will also provide blood pressure checks and diabetes tests. The bank is covering the cost of the screenings which amounts to $2.5 million.

Simone Hull, public relations specialist at Scotiabank, told the Observer that the screening was already oversubscribed before midday yesterday and therefore, Scotiabank will be lobbying the Cancer Society to offer screening at a lower rate for these women.

"You go into some deep rural areas and women have never done pap smears, have never done mammograms. They don't know how to identify a lump in their breast," Hull said.
"What we are trying to do is spread awareness to educate people and to offer something very practical in terms of testing. So when we take the mobile unit you will see the whole town coming out and they are happy to be able to access this opportunity," she said.

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