The Lung Center of Penn Highlands Healthcare recently received a generous gift of $100,000 from First Commonwealth Bank to be put toward the purchase of a mobile low-dose CT unit that will provide lung cancer screening to rural communities in northwestern/central Pennsylvania.
Funds are currently being raised for the mobile CT unit. Once acquired, it will travel throughout Jefferson, Elk, Cameron, Indiana, Clarion, Centre, Potter and McKean counties.
“Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer death in the United States. However, is it curable if we can detect it early, which is now possible through low-dose CT screening,” said interventional pulmonologist Dr. Sandeep Bansal, medical director of The Lung Center and Intensive Care Services at Penn Highlands DuBois.
“This innovative vehicle will help us provide the communities we serve with even more access to a simple screening that can truly save lives.”
Penn Highlands was the first healthcare facility in the region to offer CT lung cancer screenings, which, in high-risk patients, can reduce the chance of lung cancer related death by up to 20 percent, according to Bansal.
The screening is for patients with a long history of smoking who meet certain criteria. Most insurances provide coverage for this screening to qualified patients. However, Penn Highlands also offers a self-pay option to those who are between 50–80 years old and meet the criteria.
The Lung Center has seven locations in five counties, including the hub at Penn Highlands DuBois and offices in Brookville, Clarion, Clearfield, Philipsburg, Punxsutawney and St. Marys.
Low-dose CT screening is currently offered at the four Penn Highlands hospitals – Penn Highlands DuBois, Penn Highlands Brookville, Penn Highlands Clearfield and Penn Highlands Elk.
Low-dose CT screening – a test that uses a low dose of radiation to take pictures of the lungs –is noninvasive, doesn’t involve any prep or fasting beforehand, requires no IV or dye, and the whole process takes only about 15 to 20 minutes.
“It is a privilege to partner with The Lung Center of Penn Highlands Healthcare to help take cancer screenings on the road to our neighbors who may not be able to receive the screenings otherwise.
Partnerships like this give First Commonwealth Bank the opportunity to give back and invest in the financial and physical health of our communities,” said David Buckiso, executive vice president of wealth management for First Commonwealth.
If you would like to make an appointment for a low-dose CT scan for lung cancer screening, talk to your primary care physician or call The Lung Center at 814-375-3770 between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., Monday through Friday.
For more information about ways to give to Penn Highlands Healthcare, please visit www.phhealthcare.org/donate.
