Partners in Wellness, the mobile cancer screening program at Ochsner LSU Health–Feist-Weiller Cancer Center (FWCC) kicked off Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month by holding a community colon cancer screening event at MLK Health Center on Thursday, March 7, 2024. Community members and patients of the MLK Health Center were able to receive a Cologuard® screening test thanks to a generous gift from Dak Prescott’s Faith, Fight, Finish Foundation, which gave $81,877 to the program to provide underserved Louisianans with Cologuard® screening tests for colon and rectal cancer.
What is the Partners in Wellness van?
FWCC’s Partners in Wellness vans bring critical cancer screenings to more than 30 communities in North and Central Louisiana and are open to everyone, regardless of insurance status or ability to pay. The vans have the only mobile, digital mammography equipment in North Louisiana, and they can screen for breast, cervical, prostate, and now thanks to Dak Prescott’s gift, colorectal cancers. Colon cancer is one of four pillars the Faith, Fight, Finish Foundation tackles, and for good reason. Prescott’s mother, Margaret “Peggy” Prescott passed away in 2013 at the age of 52 after a valiant battle with Stage 4 colon cancer.
“It goes without saying that the fight against the devastating disease that took my mother’s life means the world to me. It’s a great privilege to be in a position to help increase cancer screenings through the Partners in Wellness mobile screening van, especially in my home state of Louisiana, because early detection is often the key to making this disease treatable and survivable,” stated Dak Prescott.
Colorectal cancer rates in North Louisiana
North Louisiana has a significantly high colorectal cancer incidence rate: 7 of the 11 highest prevalence areas in the state are in northern Louisiana. Colon cancer is also more prevalent in African American populations, which represent 59% of Partners in Wellness patients. Nationwide, colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death, behind only lung cancer.
“Louisiana, and especially North Louisiana, experiences significantly higher occurrence and mortality rates from colorectal cancer than in other parts of the United States,” said Dr. Richard Mansour, Interim Director of Feist-Weiller. “What an incredible way Dak is honoring his mother’s legacy by making it possible for so many to be screened much earlier for colon cancer.”
Since 1999, the Partners in Wellness mobile cancer screening program has served more than 20,000 patients through more than 50,000 screenings provided at no cost to the patients.
