Siteman Cancer Center sending mobile service van into Southeast Missouri, Southern Illinois

Siteman Cancer Center has announced it will dispatch a community health van into 82 counties in Missouri and Illinois, including the Cape Girardeau and the Bootheel area.

Siteman is based at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

"Siteman Cancer Center is delivering on our mission to prevent cancer in the community and transform the care of patients through scientific discovery," Siteman director Timothy J. Eberlein, MD, said in a news release. "By bringing screening, education and prevention strategies out of clinics and into communities, Siteman is extending the reach of our world-class care and research, providing greater access to community members and their families and friends."

Siteman's health van, a 40-foot "Health on the Move" vehicle operated by Siteman's Program for Elimination of Cancer Disparities, will offer:

• fecal immunochemical tests, which are take-home stool screening tests for colorectal cancer;
• prostate-specific antigen tests for the early detection of prostate cancer;
• blood sugar tests;
• educational resources to help prevent cancer, diabetes, heart disease and other chronic illnesses;
• the latest information on family history, genetics and hereditary cancer and clinical trials.

The van will be staffed by phlebotomists and public health coordinators. Tests will be read by Washington University clinicians, with results typically available in two to three weeks.

According to the Siteman news release citing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Missouri has the nation's 10th highest cancer death rate and the 10th highest death rate because of heart diseases.

Among many other counties, the van will make stops in Bollinger, Butler, Cape Girardeau, Carter, Dunklin, Madison, Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Reynolds, Ripley, Scott, Ste. Genevieve, Stoddard and Wayne counties in Southeast Missouri; as well as Alexander and Pulaski counties in Southern Illinois.

For more information about the van's stops or to make an appointment, click here.