Sacramento men getting an eye test are offered a bonus: prostate cancer screening
Men may cringe at the thought of a prostate cancer screening test, but an early diagnosis of the disease can be the difference between life and death.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among American men, and it strikes African American men disproportionately.
Compared with whites, black men are twice as likely to die of the disease, according to the American Cancer Society.
Yet they are less likely to get screened.
On Saturday, the newly formed Sacramento Community Cancer Coalition set out to give underserved populations these exams, teeth-gritting and all.
To lure patients, the organization – brainchild of Dr. Darryl Hunter, a radiation oncologist at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Roseville – used an innovative hook: free eyeglasses.
Hunter partnered with VSP, the Rancho Cordova-based vision insurance provider, which runs two recreational vehicles as mini optometry offices.
The VSP mobile clinics travel all over the country, giving comprehensive eye exams and taking orders for glasses, which people pick up several weeks later.
Francisco Arreola Sr., 49, attended the clinic because he couldn't stand his blurry vision. Recently laid-off from a construction job, he has no health insurance.
When he checked in for his vision exam, he was asked if he wanted a prostate exam, too.
"I said yes, because I haven't had a prostate exam before," he said. "It just never crossed my mind.
"But my eye situation bothers me every day."
With Sacramento County clinics slashing hours and available appointments, private efforts such as these expect to bear much of the brunt of health care for the uninsured.
Saturday's clinic was held in conjunction with the free Imani clinic, offered weekly in the Oak Park neighborhood, run and staffed by UC Davis medical school students.
Kaiser's Hunter thinks the most effective way to care for underserved populations is to work with local, grass-roots organizations.
Saturday's clinic partnered with 11 organizations, including the African American Prostate Cancer Initiative and 100 Black Men of Sacramento Inc., who advertised the event at local community meetings.
"We try to find methods of connecting that a particular community can relate to, because people trust the message if it's from a neighbor or a friend or a congregant that sits on the same pew," said Kim Garrett, spokeswoman for the African American Prostate Cancer Initiative.
Hunter attributes this collaboration to the flagging economy.
"If I tried to do this a year ago, it wouldn't have happened," he said. "All nonprofits are hurting now, so we have to share resources and give up a little autonomy.
"But the benefit to the community is greater."
Mayor Kevin Johnson stopped by to declare Saturday "Cancer Awareness Among the Underserved Day" in Sacramento.
Hunter hopes it will become an annual event.
Inside, the VSP Mobile Clinic is airy and wood-paneled, with a wall of eyeglasses and fully equipped exam rooms. The clinic provides discontinued eyeglass frames, and the designer brands – Fendi, Calvin Klein – were received with giggles of delight by women.
"Oh my goodness, these are so adorable," said Rosalind Shaw, trying on a pair of Coach frames.
Inside the exam room, Arreola, the laid-off laborer, squinted as he tried to make out letters projected on a wall. He last had an eye exam about 40 years ago, he said.
"The Monet painting you've been looking through will now be photography," promised John McDonald, a volunteer optometrist from Chico.
Then it was off to his first prostate exam.
"Wish me luck!" Arreola said, laughing.