OUR COMMUNITY
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Armed with
Knowledge JScreen Detroit offers affordable genetic screening for cancer, diseases and more. STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
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DECEMBER 16 • 2021
Family, a program of the Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit in West Bloomfield, is lowering the financial barrier to those who want to learn if they are genetically predisposed to certain hereditary cancers or diseases through its new JScreen Detroit program that launched Nov. 6. Without health insurance, costs of reproductive genetic and cancer screening can run as high as $600. But thanks to generous grants and other funding, the JScreen Detroit program will heavily subsidize the processing costs of the test kits, which are sent to JScreen’s headquarters at the Emory School of Medicine in Atlanta. For those who have any health insurance, a $149 reproductive genetic screening will cost $18; $199 cancer screening will cost $36. The two tests, which normally cost $299, will cost $54 with the JScreen Detroit program. JFamily will work with those without health insurance to apply for financial aid. A JScreen Detroit screening is as easy as depositing saliva into a cup provided by a mailed kit. Samples are mailed to Emory University and screened for more than 200 genetic diseases, including those commonly found in the Jewish population (Ashkenazi, Sephardic and Mizrahi), as well as other populations. Testing may reveal that you may be at risk for developing symptoms of a genetic condition. Stephanie Erez, director of young children and family engagement Stephanie at the JCC, said Erez JScreen Detroit is
backed by a committee whose members are well-versed in reproductive, genetic or cancer screening due to their professional background or personal experience. In the first 18 months of the program, Erez hopes to complete screening for 500 people, and the program is spreading the word to local Jewish agencies and congregations. “JFamily is there for the community during life’s most beautiful and most challenging times,” said Mikki Frank, JFamily senior director. “We provide support, education and Mikki Frank connection. Providing this resource for health screening, and then putting those who did the screening in touch with additional resources after they receive those results, fits within that lane.” Erez added that the screening is only the beginning. JFamily can be a guide to seeking additional educational and support resources for those who received positive test results, such as designating genetic counselors, she said. HEIGHTENED BREAST CANCER RISK Dana Zakalik, the corporate director of the Nancy and James Grosfeld Cancer Genetics Center at Beaumont Health and an oncologist with a Dr. Dana specialty in breast Zakalik cancer and cancer genetics, said among Ashkenazi Jews, there is a one in 40 chance that a person carries either the BRCA1 or
