The Rotary Club of Taree has ended its Bowelscan program after 32 years.
The catalyst for the decision is the new federal government initiative to supply Bowelscan testing kits every two years to people between 50 and 74 years of age.
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The Rotary Club of Taree conducted its last Bowelscan program in May this year and the milestone saw the Rotary District supply more than 680,000 kits over 32 years. The district covers from Armidale and Tamworth in the west and as far as Coffs Harbour in the north of the State.
The Rotary Bowelscan program has aided the early diagnosis in many people with more than 80 per cent of kits sold returned for testing.
Earlier this year Rotary urged people to not wait until 2020 when you reach 50 years of age to have a Bowelscan test as people under 50 have been diagnosed with bowel cancer, and advised that 90 per cent of bowel cancer can be cured if detected early.
The provision of Bowelscan kits to the community is not the only achievement of the Rotary program.
Rotary District 9650 through the Bowelscan Committee donated $416,881 to Australian Rotary Health Research and the funds provided 12 PhD research scholarship projects in bowel cancer, three additional offered by July 2018 and one PhD research scholarship in prostate cancer.
Its Bowelscan Community Health program also influenced the federal and State governments to provide assistance for colon rectal cancer.
For further information about the Australian Government National Bowel Cancer Screening Program click here.