FROM STAFF REPORTS
CORDELE — Area volunteers are needed to assist in a study to understand the causes of cancer and find an eventual cure for the disease.
Anyone between the ages of 25 and 74 who has never been diagnosed with cancer can participate. Also women who have had cervical cancer that was removed in the OB/GYN office with no further treatment necessary, or people who have had basal or squamous skin cancer removed completely with surgery and needed no further treatment may participate.
Two recruitment drives are planned in Cordele including one Thursday, July 12 from 5 to 8:30 p.m. at Lions Club Park. Supper will be served to everyone who enrolls.
A second signup opportunity is scheduled for Friday, July 13 at the Crisp Regional Medical Office Building on Fifth Street South from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. Food also will be served during that period to those who enroll.
Toni Chociemski, project manager of the Georgia Cancer Study said, “We’d like to send out special thanks to Crisp Regional Hospital and the Cordele Lions Club for their support!”
The Georgia Cancer Study (GCS) of Emory University which is behind this recruitment of volunteers, is funded by the Georgia Cancer Coalition (GCC), with a goal of enrolling 140,000 residents from around the state.
The GCS pilot project in partnership with community cancer coalitions, is attempting to find approximately 1,000 volunteers from southwest and central Georgia counties to test the methodologies, questionnaires, specimen collection, and other aspects of the study before launching a full statewide effort. This is not a cancer screening but a study to understand the causes of cancer.
The questionnaire itself will cover diet, lifestyle, medical and family history and body size. Each individual that participates will also provide blood, urine, and saliva samples.
For more information, interested persons can visit http://www.georgiacancerstudy.org or call 1-877-727-5427.
