Kinney Drugs offers free kits for colon cancer screening that will be analyzed at Upstate laboratories. People 50 and older can visit the drug store chain — with multiple locations throughout the Syracuse and Central New York region, including at Upstate University Hospital — for a fecal occult blood test kit, which checks stool samples for hidden blood. This can be a sign of colon cancer.
Kinney partnered with the American Cancer Society and Upstate Medical University for this colon cancer screening project, which began June 1 and continues through June 30. Patients do the testing at home and mail the kits to the Upstate lab, where specimens are analyzed. The kits have to be returned by Aug. 15.
People with negative tests or incomplete samples receive letters sent from the American Cancer Society, with the help of an intern from Upstate’s master of public health program.
Upstate medical providers will contact those people who have positive test results, as well as their primary care providers, to schedule appointments with a colorectal specialist, and any subsequent diagnostic or treatment procedures.
