The Bridgepoint Family Health Team is committed to your overall health and well-being. Preventative care is an important part of maintaining your health. This includes colorectal cancer screening, breast cancer screening, cervical cancer screening, childhood immunizations, influenza and pneumovax vaccination.
Colorectal Cancer Screening
Age group: 50-74 (male and female)
Test: Fecal Occult Blood Test (FOBT) every two years or colonoscopy every five years.
The FOBT is a simple test that can detect invisible (occult) amounts of blood in your stool. FOBT is the only method of colorectal cancer screening that has been proven in randomized control trials to reduce mortality from colorectal cancer.
A colonoscopy is a procedure done by a gastroenterologist. During the exam, a colonoscope — a long, flexible tube about the thickness of an adult finger — is inserted into your rectum. A tiny video camera at its tip allows the physician to view the inside of your colon. In particular, they are looking for a polyp or abnormal tissue.
How to get the test done:
- Request a FOBT kit at the Bridgepoint Family Health Team.
- If you have not had a FOBT done within two years, we will mail a test kit to you.
- Request a colonoscopy referral from your physician.
Breast Cancer Screening
Age group: 50-74 (female)
Test: Mammography, routine screening every two years
A mammography is a low dose X-ray of the breast. The X-ray can find changes in the breast, even when the changes are too small for you or your doctor to feel or see. In Ontario, breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women. As women get older, the chance of getting breast cancer rises. Mammograms can help to find small breast cancers before there are signs and symptoms. If breast cancer is found at an early stage there is a high rate of successful treatment.
How to get the test done:
- Request a mammography requisition at the Bridgepoint Family Health Team. You may schedule an appointment at a diagnostic imaging location.
- Contact the Ontario Breast Screening Program (OBSP) at 1-800-668-9304 to schedule an appointment for your mammography.
Cervical Cancer Screening
Age group: 35-70 (female)
Test: Pap smear, routine screening every two years
Cervical cancer is not life-threatening if it's caught early. This is why getting your pap smear regularly is so important. A pap smear is a simple test that can help prevent cancer of the cervix. Your physician will take a sample of the cells from your cervix. The cells are checked for signs that they're changing from normal. Cells go through a slow (many months or years) series of changes before they turn into cancer. Pap smears can show if your cells are going through these changes long before you have cancer.
How to get test done:
Schedule an appointment for a pap smear with your physician.
Childhood Immunizations
Age Group: 2 months – 15 years
Immunizations, also called shots or needles, help save lives, prevent serious illnesses, and are recognized as one of the most effective public health interventions. Immunizations help the body make its own protection (or antibodies) against certain diseases. Immunizations are given against diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), tetanus, polio, haemophilus influenzae type b (HIB), measles, mumps and rubella (German measles).
How to get the tests done:
Influenza and Pneumvax Vaccinations
Age group: Everyone, especially adults 65 years and older, and patients with asthma and/or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We offer the Influenza vaccination annually, typically in late fall. You must have the vaccination every year.
Adults 65 years of age and older, as well as patients with asthma and/or COPD, should have a pneumovax vaccination every 10 years.
How to get the test done:
Schedule an appointment in the late fall to get your vaccination.