The University of Florida Health Cancer Center unveiled its new Mobile Cancer Screening Connector on Wednesday, touting the vehicle’s ability to bring cancer screening and awareness to people across 23 counties.
“I’m really thrilled to open this here today, and to focus our care to our community,” UF Health Cancer Center director Jonathan Licht said in a speech.
The connector is the first vehicle of its kind in North Central Florida, equipped for 3D mammography and screenings for cervical, colon and prostate cancers.
“As a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center, the UF Health Cancer Center is a pioneer in many areas,” Stephen Motew, UF Health’s president and system CEO, said in a speech. “It blends multi-disciplinary research that spans almost every area and aspect of the university. So truly is cross-campus with the highest quality and most compassionate patient care.”
Motew said the cancer center’s catchment area is larger than the combined size of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, and that the connector is another step beyond UF Health’s mobile stroke treatment unit.
Licht said half of the 2.5 million people in the 23-county catchment area live in rural areas, which can make medical care less accessible. He said cancer screening is especially vulnerable to this burden, as preventative care seems less urgent.
For now, Licht said UF Health needs to start by “kicking the tires” on the connector van, beginning its service within Gainesville before expanding to health fairs in rural Alachua County, and eventually the rest of the catchment area.
Licht said the connector will go out with a team that could include medical assistants, faculty ambassadors, mammography technicians, physicians and other professionals, led by the connector’s medical director, Lakeshia Cousin.
“It functions just like a regular medical office on wheels… and we’re looking forward to working together to increase cancer screening rates in the area that we serve in North Central Florida,” Cousin said in a speech. “Our goal is to reduce advanced stage cancer and also mortality, and then expand education on all aspects of cancer care. And so through these efforts, we are working towards a future where fewer families are impacted by this dreadful disease, including my own.”
The connector is 40 feet long and 13 feet high, with two distinct rooms, according to Cousin.
U.S. Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Gainesville, who spoke at the event, said she hears from constituents across her district that they need access to quality, affordable healthcare, but they live too far away for that healthcare to be accessible.
“This is really meeting the patients where they’re at. There is no one size fits all when it comes to care,” Cammack said in a speech. “So I couldn’t be more proud to represent the Gator Nation and to be a part of this momentous occasion where we take that step forward and say the Gator Nation is once again leading the charge in underserved health care, rural healthcare, urban healthcare, but most of all, American healthcare.”
Our elected officials should model good health themselves. Obesity is an epidemic.