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St. Bernards Medical Center and Clopton Clinic Foundation will sponsor a prostate screening and men’s health conference on Sept. 8 from 7 a.m. until 1 p.m. at St. Bernards Auditorium. With help from Arkansas Prostate Cancer Foundation and the Center on Aging-Northeast, the event is offered free of charge to men from age 50 to 75.
For more than a decade St. Bernards has sponsored a free annual prostate screening.. This year, Clopton Clinic Foundation is joining with St. Bernards to incorporate a men’s health conference with breakout session speakers on a variety of men’s health issues and a special luncheon speaker as well as a number of other free screenings.
St. Bernards has sponsored free prostate screenings for more than a decade as a way to increase awareness of prostate cancer – and to encourage men to have prostate screenings and digital rectal examinations each year. Local urologists join with St. Bernards, and provide the DREs for participants. Blood is drawn for prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing, with testing to be performed by the Arkansas Prostate Cancer Foundation. Results will be mailed directly to participants from the foundation.
For men who have a family history that includes prostate cancer, the screenings should begin at age 40. There is a higher incidence of prostate cancer among African American men, and because of that, they too should begin screenings at age 40.
Dr. Thomas Mulligan, medical director of the Center on Aging-Northeast at St. Bernards and the St. Bernards Senior Health Clinic, will be the keynote speaker at a free luncheon scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. He will discuss “Hormone Deficiency and Replacement for Older Men: Is There a Fountain of Youth?” One of the screenings that will be offered will check testosterone levels.
Breakout sessions will include speakers making discussing the following topics:
9 a.m. – Dealing with Dementia
9:30 a.m. – Financial Planning for Retirement
10 a.m. – How to Save Money on Your Medicines
10:30 a.m. – How To Quit Smoking
Free screenings will check for balance problems, blood pressure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), peripheral artery disease (PAD), testosterone levels and vision problems. In addition, there will be a number of informational booths set up at the event.
This marks the first year that the screening will be held on one day only. In the past, St. Bernards prostate screenings have been offered on two consecutive days.