Visit to the Algarve Oncology Association
Friday, November 9th saw Wendy Emrich, Marja Chapman and Karen Huxtable heading to Faro to officially hand over a cheque of 4,000 Euros to the Algarve Oncology Association. The 4,000 Euros was raised at the Pink Ladies Golf Day held in August this year. Maria de Lurdes, from the AOA was the representative to take the cheque and to show us around.
The Oncology Association has a mobile screening unit which runs all along the Algarve, from Aljezur to Faro. It takes two years to screen all the women in the region, who are between 50 and 69 and are registered with the local health care system. So, every two years the unit will start again in Aljezur.
They have recently acquired a second mobile unit which will be used to check for melanoma and respiratory issues.
What was really impressive was the quality of the screening unit and the computer system that’s used to analyse the mammograms. The detail was just unbelievable. There are only 4 units of this high quality in Portugal. Two are in Lisbon, one is the mobile unit and the last one is in the Health Centre in Lagoa.
Just the computer system cost around 45,000 Euros, so it’s great that Mel Huxtable, next year’s captain, has decided to have the Oncology Association as his charity for 2019.
Having seen their system, ladies….. please register with the local health care system, because a better screening you cannot get elsewhere!