In a bid to prevent more women from getting cervical cancer, St. Joseph’s Health Care London will be offering a first-of-its-kind drop-in, pop-up pap test clinic.
The pop-up will be held at St. Joseph’s Colposcopy Clinic at 268 Grosvenor Street from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday. Women aged 25 and older who have not had a pap smear in the past three years can attend without an appointment for specialized cervical screening.
“We hope people take advantage of the pop-up clinic,” said Dr. Robert Di Cecco, the clinic's medical director. “Screening is only effective if someone gets screened.”
Roughly 550 Canadians are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year, according to the health care facility. Regular screening through pap tests can catch changes in cervical cells that may in future develop into cancer. Early detection makes treatment easier and can prevent cervical cancer from developing.
“The treatments for cervical cancer can be very invasive and take a huge physical and emotional toll on the individual and their families. Success of those treatments depends on how early it’s caught," said Di Cecco, who also serves as the South West Regional Cancer Program's regional lead of cervical screening. "Timely screening allows for the detection of changes before they become cancerous – changes that place the individual at risk. The identification of pre-cancerous changes allows us to remove these abnormalities with minor procedures that do not result in a major upheaval to the individual’s life.”
Most cervical cancers are found in individuals who have never been screened or who have not been screened regularly, Di Cecco added.
Monday's clinic is being offered in collaboration with the South West Regional Cancer Program and is the first such pop-up to be offered to the general public in the London-area. It is being held to coincide with Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, which is marked each January. The clinic is particularly ideal for people who don't have a family doctor, which makes them more likely to miss out on this type of preventative care.
