Pilot lung cancer screening program underway in Swift Current

EAGLE STAFF

A program to look for lung cancer in people deemed considered high risks began in Swift Current in July.

The program, LungCheck, provides information and support to help people aged 50 to 74, who haven’t shown any signs of the cancer, to quit smoking. They also receive “low-dose computed tomography” scans, said a provincial Health Department statement noting that November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month.

Staff had decided that 24 of the 54 people referred to the pilot program were eligible for screening and 11 “have been engaged in supports for quitting smoking,” the statement said. Officials intend to extend the program from a clinic in Swift Current to other areas “in the future,” it said.

The Saskatchewan Cancer Agency program got $295,000 in the current year’s budge to enable it to hire three new staff members, a nurse practitioner, a “smoking cessation case manager” and a clerk, a Health Department media consultant said via e-mail.

In the 2024-25 budget, the program received $470,000 in “one-time capital funding” for information technology infrastructure, said Dale Hunter, the consultant.

"Evaluating this progress and hearing feedback from clients and providers will help to put us in a great position to expand the program over time,“ Karen Efthimiou, a Saskatchewan Health Authority vice-president, said in the statement.

Lung cancer causes the most deaths from cancer among Saskatchewan residents, “with death rates higher than breast, colorectal and prostate cancers combined,” the statement said. Physicians diagnose it in about 860 people each year in the province.

“Smoking is the highest risk factor leading to lung cancer” but hazardous chemicals, genetic factors, air pollution and exposure to radon can also cause it, the statement said. Because of its association with smoking, “it is considered one of the most stigmatized cancers” even though others can be diagnosed with it, the statement noted.

“We are joining with other provinces to end the stigma around lung cancer and empower the people affected by the disease to share their knowledge, hope and healing within their communities,” said Jeremy Cockrill, the health minister. Health staff “deliver vital diagnostics and essential resources that drive research and enhance treatment outcomes for patients, both in our province and throughout Canada,” Cockrill said.

Regardless of their age or location, people with chest pain, shortness of breath, a new, persistent cough or who are coughing up blood should speak with health workers about diagnostic testing, the statement said.

"As family doctors, we always wish we had more screening programs, which find disease before symptoms are present, at a more treatable stage," the clinic’s Dr. Janna Cuthbert said. "Our team at the Associate Family Physicians Clinic is happy to add real world experience in this early phase of this program."