News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 4, 2015 

HHC Urges New Yorkers 50 and Older to Get a Life-Saving Colorectal Cancer Screening

HHC Urges New Yorkers 50 and Older to Get a Life-Saving Colorectal Cancer Screening

Helping the Bronx Narrow the Screening Gap

(Bronx, NY) For Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month in March, the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) urges all Bronx residents 50 and older to undergo potentially life-saving colorectal cancer screening. In New York City colorectal cancer is the second deadliest cancer, killing approximately 1,400 people each year according to the New York Citywide Colon Cancer Control Coalition (C5), which includes HHC. Yet 90 percent of colorectal cancers are curable when caught in the early stages. HHC hospitals in the Bronx performed over 4,900 colonoscopies in 2014.

Men and women over age 50 should have a colonoscopy at least once every 10 years. Individuals with a family history of colorectal cancer should speak with their healthcare provider about more frequent screenings starting at an earlier age. HHC public hospitals and community health centers offer affordable colonoscopies and other screening tests to all New Yorkers. To find an HHC facility in your community, visit HHC’s website or call 311.

"Our aim is to make colon cancer screening a routine part of preventive healthcare for all New Yorkers over the age of 50," said HHC President Ram Raju, MD. "Effective early detection of colon cancer is an important public health initiative. HHC will continue to work in our communities and with our partners to achieve this important public health goal.”

People with colon cancer often have no symptoms until the disease has reached advanced stages. However, signs of colon cancer may include:

• A change in bowel habits, including diarrhea, constipation or a change in consistency of stool
• Rectal bleeding or blood in stool
• Persistent abdominal discomfort, such as cramps, gas or pain
• A feeling that the bowel does not completely empty after a bowel movement
• Weakness or fatigue
• Unexplained weight loss

During the colonoscopy exam, a doctor looks inside the colon using a thin, bendable, lighted tube that has a small camera on the end. If polyps are found, they can be removed right away. The exam lasts about 30 minutes. Typically at HHC, polyps and other pre-cancerous growths are removed in over 20 percent of colonoscopies performed, when the disease can be prevented or treated effectively. That rate is consistent with the national average. Other screening tests are also available.

Over 2,500 colonoscopies were performed at HHC Lincoln Medical Center in the Bronx in 2014. Dr. Sulaiman Azeez, Chief of Gastroenterology at Lincoln, says that in the twelve years he has practiced at the hospital he has seen an increase in colon cancer awareness among patients, leading to more screenings and more polyps being removed before they can develop into life-threatening cancers.

“Colon cancer is a silent killer,” said Dr. Azeez. “Polyps may have developed into advanced stage cancer by the time people feel symptoms, which makes treatment options more complex, often requiring chemotherapy after surgery. However, we’ve been seeing more awareness in the Bronx and patients are generally being diagnosed earlier and earlier. Also, because of new treatments and better chemotherapy options, more colon cancer patients in the U.S. are living longer and enjoying a better quality of life. There are many reasons to get a colonoscopy. Don’t be scared and don’t put it off.”

Overall HHC performed over 22,000 colonoscopies in 2014, almost twice as many as it did when it began an initiative a decade ago to get more New Yorkers to undergo colon cancer screenings. That initiative, as well as the work of the C5 coalition, has helped to close the disparity in colon cancer screening rates that exists in most other parts of the country among blacks, whites, Asians and Hispanics. In New York City, the colonoscopy screening rate is now virtually the same across ethnic groups, though in 2003 whites were screened at a significantly higher rate than other groups.

HHC has three hospitals in the Bronx:

Lincoln Medical Center
234 Eugenio Maria De Hostos Blvd (East 149th Street)
Bronx, NY 10451
718-579-5000

Jacobi Medical Center
1400 Pelham Parkway South
Bronx, NY 10461
718-918-5000

North Central Bronx Hospital
3424 Kossuth Avenue
Bronx, NY 10467
718-519-5000

 

Contact: Ian Michaels, (212) 788-3339

About HHC

The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) is a $6.7 billion integrated healthcare delivery system, the largest municipal healthcare organization in the country, and one of the New York area's largest providers of government-sponsored health insurance, MetroPlus Health Plan, the plan of choice for nearly half a million New Yorkers. HHC serves 1.4 million New Yorkers every year and more than 475,000 are uninsured. HHC provides medical, mental health and substance abuse services through its 11 acute care hospitals, five skilled nursing facilities, six large diagnostic and treatment centers and more than 70 community based clinics. HHC Health and Home Care also provides in-home services for New Yorkers. HHC was the 2008 recipient of the National Quality Forum and The Joint Commission's John M. Eisenberg Award for Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality. For more information, visit www.nyc.gov/hhc or find us on facebook.com/nycHHC or twitter.com/HHCnyc.