[Hopespringpcsg] FW: LETTER TO THE EDITOR

[Glen Tolhurst]

Hi all:

Below is the Letter to the Editor I just sent to the local Guelph newspaper.

Feel free to copy/modify/ plagiarize it and send it to local papers,
candidates, and share it with your networks.

We have to advocate for men's health during the provincial election.

Take care,

Glen

 

From: Glen Tolhurst [mailto:Glen46Nor at gmail.com] 
Sent: May 15, 2018 3:28 PM
To: 
Subject: LETTER TO THE EDITOR

 

Please consider the following for publishing as a Letter to the Editor.

 

MEN'S HEALTHCARE

The recent letter "Talk to your political candidates about oral health" (GMT
7 May 18) is timely in that it raises healthcare as an election issue.

A component of men's healthcare that is too often neglected is Prostate
Cancer (PCa). 8 men die every month in Waterloo-Wellington from Prostate
Cancer. This does not have to happen since "early detection saves lives".
Since PCa is symptomless in its early treatable stages, currently the best
way to determine if a man may have Prostate Cancer is via a low cost simple
Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) blood test. When men reach 40 years old,
they should have a PSA test annually for several years to establish a
personal baseline PSA level. Once a baseline is established, PSA tests every
couple of years will indicate if there is a deviation from the baseline. If
there is an increase, then further investigation is warranted. 

Now comes "the kicker" - OHIP does NOT pay for PSA testing unless a man is
diagnosed with PCa or has a first link to  a man (father, bother) who has
PCa. Other provinces pay for the screening, why not Ontario? Ask the
candidates running in your riding for the provincial election to agree to
have OHIP pay for PCa screening, similar to mammography screening for female
breast cancer or Pap test screening for cervical cancer.

I am a PCa survivor thanks to a previous family doctor who encouraged me 20
years ago to pay for 10 years of PSA testing that showed a deviation from a
baseline and provided detection of early stage treatable PCa.

 

Glen N. Tolhurst

Chair- Prostate Cancer Canada Network Waterloo-Wellington

pccn-waterloo-wellington.ca

 

18 Hunters Lane

Guelph ON

N1C 1B1

519 826 0726

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