The premier platform of Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center’s C.A.R.E. Network is its strategic and aggressive early detection efforts. Because of this, nearly 100 free community cancer screenings were offered to the medically underserved public in 2006. The Early Bird, the C.A.R.E. Network’s mobile medical clinic, has expanded into poorer, more remote locations where people are least likely to travel great distances for a screening. Free breast, prostate, skin and colorectal cancer screenings are offered in the 15 parish are served by Mary Bird Perkins.
Screenings are the single most proactive way to lower the inordinately high cancer mortality rate in Louisiana. Many deaths can be prevented with early detection and timely treatment.