Thirty-four women who live in the territory of the Conflent Canigó community of municipalities were invited this Friday (by the prevention department of the CPAM) to participate in a “prevention” day.
“We have done work upstream in order to more specifically choose women who are out of step with their cancer screenings. In a positive, non-guilt-inducing approach, it is a question of offering women who are not up to date
of their screenings, to carry them out over a day in Prades”, explains Angelo Castelletta, director of the Primary Health Insurance Fund (CPAM) of the Pyrénées-Orientales. According to the data observatory, 1,597 women are concerned in the Conflent sector. Among them, 615 women (aged 25 to 49) who had not had their cervical cancer screening smear for 2 years, 573 women (aged 50 to 64) who had not had at least one of the screenings for cervical, breast or colorectal cancer (for which they are eligible) for 2 years and 409 women (65 to 74 years old) who had not undergone at least one screening for breast cancer and colorectal cancer ( to which they are eligible) for 2 years.
Prevention at the center of concerns
Concretely, a personalized course was proposed for each guest according to her needs. Advice, information, CPAM agents were very caring. A stand of the Regional Cancer Screening Coordination Center (CRCDC) was also in place to, if necessary, repeat the invitations to participate in the screenings and again distill advice and information. The women concerned then benefited from preventive consultations with, in turn, a doctor from the Health Center for the delivery of the colorectal cancer screening kit and practical explanations, then a liberal midwife from the sector for the realization of a screening smear. Twelve women were also able to have a screening mammogram performed directly at the Prades Medical Imaging Center. Finally, an individual motivational smoking cessation interview was carried out by a smoking cessation nurse from the Health Examination Center (CES).
Workshops were then offered: nutrition and health by a dietician or breast self-examination by a doctor from the CES (Prades branch). A prevention day dear to Angelo Castelletta: “Prevention is at the center of our concerns and it is with this in mind that we are expanding the range of action of the health examination center in the department, by deploying antennas for more proximity (Editor’s note see Note that 24 to 32% of people insured have not seen a doctor for more than two years in the areas of Eus, Villefranche and Prades, for example.
The health examination center in Prades and Villefranche-de-Conflent
A health examination center offers policyholders a periodic health check-up, entirely financed by the general health insurance scheme. These centers set up since 1945 arrived in the department 7 years ago (Perpignan). The Prades branch has now been open for a year (2 days a week) and the Villefranche-de-Conflent branch should follow at the start of next year. “An opportunity, especially for people in precarious situations, potentially the furthest from health”explains the doctor Nathalie Deichelbohrer, head of the Conflentoise branch. “Our role is to offer the most complete consultation possible (vision, hearing, blood test, electrocardiogram, etc.) in order to guide patients. We are not prescribers.” Reintegration into the health system, referrals to specialists and the possibility of sharing the results with the treating doctors (when the patients have one) are among the prerogatives of the doctor in charge of the health examination centre. A preventive approach which should also help liberal doctors, who are often overwhelmed and who cannot take the time for a complete examination for each patient.