Falcons game to host free prostate cancer screening

Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the Falcons are hosting the Chicago Bears. And heads up to the fellas, if you're headed to the game, there's an important opportunity for you to take advantage of. We're talking about free prostate cancer screenings at what the Falcons are calling their crucial catch game. And we're pleased to have Dr. Sagar Loniel, the Chief Medical Officer and Medical Oncologist at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. That's quite a title. Join us this morning in studio to talk about the importance of all this initiative. First of all, we appreciate you being here this morning. Oh, thank you for having me. This is such a great opportunity to talk about some really exciting, great new data and really great opportunities for our fans. Let's start with this prostate cancer by the numbers. It's such a common thing, but we always hear it's one of those things. If you catch it early, it's very treatable, but very common, is it not? It is very common. And what's interesting is it's not only common as you age. The frequency is also higher in black Americans as well. And so certainly there are age, there are familial history things, there are risk factors that go into recommending when and if you should get screening. Which brings us to what's going on this Sunday at the Falcons game. Of course, we know the Falcons are playing the Bears. We may talk about that, too, in a minute. But this crucial catch, tell us what this is and how this is going to work out there at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and at the Home Depot backyard. Well, so the crucial catch combination is really an interesting partnership between the NFL and the ACS, where they go to big games and partner with major cancer programs around the country. And in Atlanta, that's us at Emory Winship Cancer Institute. And they really do promote the idea of screening. And so prostate screening is going to be done actually on site. Our van, our bus will be there that's sponsored by the Arthur Blank Foundation. It will be in the Home Depot backyard. But you'll have other opportunities to have prostate screening done right there at the stadium. And then, of course, we'll be able to give you education and information about screening for breast cancer and lung cancer, as well as information on other screening opportunities as well. Let's point out to all the guys who may have just tried to change the channel or whatever, we're not talking about the old school kind of physical screening that a lot of guys maybe didn't go to the doctor because of that one very test. This is a PSA test and it's different. How does it work? That's right. So it's really a blood test and even having an abnormal PSA blood test doesn't necessarily mean that you have cancer, but it is a very sensitive way to sort of follow things over time and get a sense for whether your risk is low, high, and is a lot more easier to do than the old-school digital rectal exam. And at what age do you recommend starting to get these tests? And I assume this is an annual test, so you can kind of watch if things stay the same or if you see any drastic number changes. That's right. I mean, I think that's really a conversation to have with your doctor. There are certain groups that are maybe at higher risk and should start at age 45. There are other groups who are considered sort of standard or later risk, and 50 to 55 is certainly a reasonable time to think about it. But, you know, this is a good opportunity to reset that relationship with your primary care doc and make sure you're doing all you can to prevent cancer. Arthur Blank's pretty well-known in Atlanta, and he's got his name on a lot of things around town, the new hospital, the new children's hospital. There's also the Arthur M. Blank Mobile Prostate Cancer Screening Bus that's going to be out there at the Home Depot backyard. Very personal to him because he very publicly dealt with prostate cancer a few years ago. That's right, that's right. And he's been incredibly supportive of this initiative, and his goal, like our goal at Winship, is not just how do we solve a problem when you have it, it's how do you prevent the problem in the first place. And his sponsorship of that bus, which has gone all over the state of Georgia, really has helped us to reach into communities that don't have access for screening and offer them on the spot immediate PSA testing on the bus. And while the bus will be there, there's going to be six screening locations in the concourse inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium, primarily focusing on prostate cancer, but you also have information about other forms of cancer as well, right? That's right. I mean, I think there's the opportunity to get your blood test drawn right there, and we'll get results relatively quickly. But we're also promoting breast cancer screening, lung cancer screening, particularly in smokers. We know there are a lot of smokers in the state of Georgia. If you can pick up early cancers through screening, you have a much higher chance of curing it, similar to what was seen with the Pope just recently as well. So we all and everybody knows blood pressure numbers and certain numbers that we've just kind of learned through our doctor's appointments, what's the range of numbers that you want to be in in this PSA test? Well, I don't want to give people an absolute number because there's some variation, and it's a matter of are there other potential causes for, for instance, an elevated PSA. There can be a lot of different things that play into that number. So I don't want to give you a specific number, but I think my point is really to have that discussion and get the test so that we can at least know where you stand. I know you're going to the game as a fan, So at halftime, there's going to be cancer survivors ringing the bell, really celebrating their accomplishments. I've got to ask you one football question, though. What do they need to do to get it done on Sunday? I think it's Falcons by 14. I think the defense is going to step up again, and hopefully our offense will be able to connect. I like it. Sounds good. I like the way you think. Doctor, we appreciate it. Dr. Loney, we appreciate you coming in today and sharing all that information with us. All right, so don't forget, the Arthur M. Blank Mobile Prostate Cancer Screening Bus is going to roll into the Home Depot backyard on Sunday when the Falcons take on the Chicago Bears, and apparently they're going to win. Free prostate cancer, breast cancer, and lung cancer screenings and information will be available on all concourse levels throughout the game. It's 9.51 now. Good day, Atlanta. We'll be right back after this.