‘Shout it from the rooftops’: Blue Lights Campaign for CRC awareness
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Colorectal cancer is ranked number two in the United States in terms of cancer deaths, behind just lung cancer, but often does not get the same attention as other forms of cancer. However, colorectal cancer presents the opportunity to be preventable. That is why Marianne T. Ritchie, MD, of Jefferson Gastroenterology and Hepatology in Philadelphia, started the Blue Lights Campaign to raise awareness and get more people screened.
“Other kinds of screening, like mammograms can pick up early cancer, but colonoscopies often find polyps before they turn to cancer,” she told Healio Gastroenterology and Liver Disease. “Our mission as GI doctors is to inform patients that colonoscopy is comprehensive. We can find and remove any precancers in one examination. Plus, finding cancer at an early stage makes the chance for a cure more likely. People walk away and say, ‘Thank goodness I had that test done.’” Ritchie wanted to raise awareness because, nationally, only about 65% of eligible adults are up to date on their screening, and her home city of Philadelphia has one of the lowest screening rates for any major city in the country. She wanted people to understand the importance of getting screened despite their potential fears.
“As you might guess, colonoscopy and the whole process is a bit of a hard sell,” she said. “Or at least it used to be. The prep has become kinder, the sedation is wonderful, and the technology is so much better. ... But I’ve been practicing GI for three decades, and we still are not bringing as many people to the table as we should.”
Paint the town blue
The Blue Lights Campaign started in 2014 when Ritchie reached out to the PECO Building in Philadelphia to see if they would light up their building in blue to raise awareness for CRC. Slowly through the years, the lights spread out. First, through Center City Philadelphia. Then, to the suburbs and beyond.
“Now, we have more than 30 buildings in Philly; including Boat House Row, the Franklin Institute and the Ben Franklin Bridge,” Ritchie said. Each year, the lights go as far as the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg and other counties around the state.
Ritchie wants to take the campaign nationwide and into smaller settings. She is using social media to encourage people to put blue lights out in front of their homes and businesses. She invites people to get creative and dress up in blue with your pets, your family or your coworkers and send the photo of “You in Blue” to be posted on the campaign website.
A younger audience
In most cases, CRC screening begins at age 50 years. More recently, however, Ritchie said there has been a significant risk in cases among younger individuals.
“We’re seeing it in people younger than 50,” she said. “Seventy-two percent of them, according to the American Cancer Society, are in their 40s. That means 28% are below age 40.”
In addition to younger adults, Ritchie hopes to reach a more diverse audience. Another big message of the Blue Lights Campaign is to stress the importance of screening in the African American community, who are 20% more likely to be diagnosed with CRC and 40% more likely to die from it.
Because of the rise in numbers in younger people and the increased risk for African Americans, the American Cancer Society and other national GI societies are working to change the accepted guidelines to begin screening for everyone at the age of 45.
To spread the word to a younger group of people, Ritchie is reaching out to colleges and asking students to dress in blue to highlight the importance of understanding the risks and knowing about family history of CRC.
“We’re not ready to change the screening guideline below 45, but we’re telling young people and doctors who see them not to ignore symptoms,” she said. “I have a whole collection of young people between age 27 and 33 years who have a type of polyp that can progress to cancer. Maybe they had symptoms and we found these polyps coincidentally, but now they’re on schedule to come back for surveillance because we’re lucky enough that we found them.
“We’re shouting from the rooftops to get screened. It could save your life,” Ritchie said. “Even if it’s just a stool test, the best screening test is the one that gets done.” – by Alex Young
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