A mobile men’s health clinic rolled its way into Airdrie on Saturday to remind middle-aged men to have a regular prostate check done.
The clinic-on-wheels is commonly called The Man Van. According to Ken Rabb, a community partnership advisor with the Prostate Cancer Centre, which runs the program, The Man Van’s goal is to educate men on prostate cancer and provide PSA blood tests – a less invasive form of testing for prostate cancer than traditional assessments.
“We started in 2009 creating baseline PSA bloodtests for men,” Rabb said. “The PSA blood test is a simple blood test that can be used to aid in the early detection of prostate cancer.”
Like it did at London Drugs in Airdrie on March 18, The Man Van parks outside a publicly accessible place in a spot of high visibility and invites men over the age of 40 to sign up to take the free on-the-spot test.
“We have a team of clinical staff on the van which draws about a teaspoon of blood out of a man’s arm,” Rabb said. “And we take that back to our laboratory at Rockyview Hospital, and we will email or text the results to the men.”
The blood test is important, argued Rabb, because it not only can reveal if the man’s PSA count is within normal limits or elevated for his age category, it can also create and keep a baseline record for future PSA tests.
If higher than normal PSA results are recorded on the day of the test, The Man Van contacts the patient directly and advises them to have a follow-up prostate check done with his doctor to check for (or rule out) cancer.
“It’s normal to have some protein in your blood as a man released by the prostate gland, but we are looking for excessive amounts,” explained Rabb. “If your PSA is elevated, it doesn’t mean prostate cancer necessarily, but you would want to follow up and figure out why it is elevated.”
Rabb feels The Man Van is a great way to encourage men to be more proactive with their health by bringing the van right to them, but also a highly visible way to bring a stronger awareness for men’s prostate health in general.
“The reason we suggest this (test) is prostate cancer often doesn’t have any warning signs or symptoms,” Rabb explained. “It’s these kinds of tests that we do proactively that allow us to catch the disease before it is difficult to treat.”
Prostate cancer “treatment graduate” Art Bosch knows this only too well. Bosch was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2009. He had his first surgery and treatment in 2009 after his doctor detected the cancer during a routine check-up.
When his PSA started going back up again in 2015, Bosch, who has volunteered with The Man Van since 2008, knew it was time to see his doctor again.
“I had radiation treatment,” Bosch explained, “and then in 2019, the PSA showed up again, so I had further radiation. I am past my third (treatment) go-around, and I am at zero PSA right now. So I am optimistic.”
Bosch said the PSA test is like a “tire pressure gauge” for men’s prostate health.
“It’s an indicator of something amiss, not necessarily cancer,” he explained.
Bosch said if he could give one take home message to every man over 40, it would be to do something beneficial for your own health and get your PSA checked.
“Men are generally not being proactive for their own health,” he stated matter-of-factly. “In this case, prostate cancer is very treatable. There is a high success rate with it if you catch it early before it spreads out of the prostate area. It’s a simple bloodtest, and it could make a huge difference to your life.”
Free PSA tests are available through The Man Van program, but also through any medical clinic or doctor’s office. Men ages 40 to 49 are encouraged to have a PSA test done every five years. It is recommended that men over 50 should have one done every year.
For more information on the Prostate Cancer Centre’s The Man Van mobile clinics and men’s prostate health visit prostatecancercentre.ca.
