LeVar Burton's Message
- Actor LeVar Burton, 64, is speaking up on the importance of prioritizing your health during the pandemic, and is urging people not to delay life-saving resources such as cancer screenings.
- Burton has been in the public eye for many years, but lately has been making headlines as the next possible host of Jeopardy! since icon Alex Trebek passed away from pancreatic cancer.
- Skipping regular screenings can cause cancer diagnoses to be caught in late stages, which greatly impacts treatment outcomes.
Burton knows firsthand how important taking care of yourself can be, as he’s had to deal with watching his parents go through numerous health problems throughout his childhood. That experience, along with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, has inspired him to speak out and encourage everyone to not delay health screenings. This is especially important when it comes to cancer screenings, as a SurvivorNet survey found in October 2020 that 30% of women have delayed their mammograms in fear of being exposed to COVID-19.
Read MoreDr. Heidi Gray explains how hospitals are handling cancer treatment during COVID-19
Don’t Delay Screenings
It's understandable that people want to limit their time outside of their home in order to avoid being exposed to the coronavirus, but experts say that doctors fear this means more cancers will go undiagnosed until patients feel comfortable visiting the hospital again leading to an influx of cancer diagnoses at one time.
Fortunately, hospitals and doctors have adjusted to changing guidelines and are taking extra safety precautions to make sure patients aren't at risk of contracting COVID-19, such as requiring patients to wear masks, testing everyone who enters the hospital, and sanitizing surfaces and equipment.
Related: It's Important To Continue Cancer Screenings Through COVID-19
"It's actually a very safe time for many hospitals because we have policies in place to screen patients and visitors prior to them coming in," Dr. Heidi Gray, a gynecologic oncologist at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, previously told SurvivorNet "So it's really important, now that we've been living with COVID and we've adjusted our lives to COVID masking, social distancing, all of those things that now we can't forget about the rest of our medical care. We really do need to make sure patients if they're having symptoms, if they're having a medical concern, that they should be coming in."
Dr. Karen Winkfield explains why it’s imperative that Black communities get cancer screenings
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.
