According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, one out of five Americans will develop skin cancer by age 70. There are different kinds of skin cancer, from the most common basal cell carcinoma, with about 3.6 million diagnoses per year, to the most dangerous skin cancer, melanoma. There are roughly 212,000 cases of melanoma diagnosed in the United States annually. Most cases of skin cancer are curable if diagnosed and treated early.
A free aid in such early detection will be available later this month in Springdale. Hope Cancer Resources will sponsor the sun safety and skin screening Tuesday night, April 28, at the Hope Cancer Resources Building on West Sunset in Springdale.
Hannah Qualls, wellness manager at Hope Cancer Resources, came to the Anthony and Susan Hui News Studio this month to talk about the screening. She says it's a chance for anybody to be seen by a dermatologist at no cost.
Hannah Qualls: That's why we're here — wanting to get the word out, just spreading awareness that this is a free event for all local members in our community. It's on Tuesday, April 28, 6-8 p.m.
Kellams: While it's free, you are encouraging people to make an appointment.
Qualls: Last year we had around 130 participants. And so just making an appointment, going on that link, signing up will help us better kind of corral everybody and make it more efficient for all our participants. Anyone in the community — bring your husband, wife, kids, anyone that has any concerns with spots or just wanting to have a full look over. It's always a great resource and a good opportunity for people to come get that free preventative skin cancer check.
Kellams: How does it work? If I show up and I've made my appointment, what happens after that?
Qualls: You'll walk through our back entrance and we will check you in. You'll be sitting in our conference room. We'll be having a little slideshow of just some different information that's important for you to know, for you to check yourself. And then once the appointment time comes, we will lead you down our hallways and you'll go into one of the offices with one of the dermatologists. There'll be an assistant in there. And basically you can have any spots that you already have that you want them to look at, or do a full body scan — whatever you want to do. And then they will look at it. And if anything looks like it could need a biopsy or anything like that, they will fill out a form and refer you to a clinic for you to go get that tested.
Kellams: You don't do this by yourself. There are partners and sponsors for this.
Qualls: Yes, absolutely. And we couldn't do it without our sponsors. So just wanted to say a big thank you to Whole Dermatology and Premier Dermatology and True Dermatology for being the dermatologists that are going to be on site giving those checks. And then for our generous supporting donors of Premier Dermatology and Prime Capital Investment Advisors, we just wanted to say a big thank you for donating money to be able for this to be a free event for our community.
Kellams: Is skin cancer one of the more common cancers?
Qualls: Very common, but also very preventable. That's why we have these skin cancer checks. And diagnosing it early is how we kind of keep it from progressing.
Kellams: Where do people make their appointments?
Qualls: You can go to our website at hopecancerresources.org. And there will be — if you scroll down, there'll be sunshine on our page and you can click on that and that will take you to a link to register. And you just put in some information. If you have any problems trying to make an appointment, give us a call and we will help you that way.
Kellams: It sounds like this is as welcoming as possible.
Qualls: Yes. And that's the whole idea, is for it to be comfortable and a welcoming experience for our community members. You're going to get to meet with the dermatologist and have a little bit more of a one-on-one session with them, kind of forming that relationship. And because if you're having to do some checks on some areas that you're a little nervous about, it's in a clean, private area for you to do that.
The sun safety and skin screening is Tuesday, April 28, from 6 until 8 p.m. at the Hope Cancer Resources Building at 5835 W. Sunset Ave. in Springdale. The screening is free. Registration is available at hopecancerresources.org.
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