Can cancer be prevented?

Common habits – what we eat, how much we exercise, smoke and use alcohol – contribute to about a third of cancer deaths, according to the American Cancer Society.

How to minimize the chances of developing or dying from cancer is the topic of a free community forum Thursday, May 19, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Mercy Hospital. Cancer experts from Mercy & Unity Hospitals will present “Cancer Prevention and Screening.”

“People can take an active part in the early detection of cancer by having regularly scheduled screenings and by changing lifestyles that put them at risk for cancer,” says Stephen Mann, M.D., director of Oncology at Mercy & Unity. “The earlier cancer is detected, the better the chances for successful treatment.”

Since cancer can also be related to other factors, such as the environment, an American Cancer Society representative will talk about efforts to prevent cancer with public policy, such as smoking bans and laws.

Everyone who attends will be offered free screening tools, information and testing, including fecal occult blood test screening for colon cancer. There will be time for questions and answers.

People can register by calling Mercy & Unity Hospital’s Cancer Resource Center at 763-236-4040. The forum will be held in Mercy’s auditorium. Mercy Hospital is located at 4050 Coon Rapids Blvd.

Mercy & Unity Hospitals, located in Coon Rapids and Fridley, are non-profit hospitals that serve the northern Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. The hospitals, which are part of Allina Hospitals & Clinics, cared for 250,000 patients in 2004.