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Doctor: Cervical cancer can be prevented

BY ANNIKA TOMLIN

West Valley View Staff Writer

Cervical cancer was formerly the No. 1 cause of cancer deaths for women.

Now it’s one of the most preventable, according to Dr. Dennis Scribner, a gynecologic oncologist at Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Goodyear. He chalked this up to pap smear screenings and the HPV vaccine.

“We understood that cervical cancer, for the most part, is an HPV, human papillomavirus-driven cancer,” Scribner said. “It’s one of the known cancers that we can actually pinpoint an actual etiology.”

Medical experts recommend two HPV vaccinations for adolescent girls and boys between the ages of 10 to 12.

“The risk of developing HPV related diseases based on getting the vaccine and routine screenings is dramatically reduced,” he said.

“You want to catch the young adults before they become sexually active. That way, when they are exposed to the HPV virus, they are going to have antibodies in their system that are going to fi ght the infection and not allow it to cause these carcinogenic changes.”

Carcinogenic changes refer to the HPV virus becoming cancerous.

“Why would boys take it? Boys would take it to not only prevent penile cancer and scrotal cancer, but it’s got a component of protecting them from genital warts, too. It’s been proven to be super effective.”

There are “about 100 different strains” of HPV, according to Scribner, although the majority do not cause cancer. In fact, “half of those strains are actually something that you can visibly see that is called genital warts.” He said that genital warts can be prevented by the vaccine as well as “barrier methods” such as condoms.

The HPV strains that do cause cancer, HPV 16 and 18, are not preventable using barrier methods.

According to Scribner, “every woman and man who is sexually active will be exposed to this virus.” That is not to say that the strain that a person receives is automatically a cancerous strain.

“The vaccine came out in 2016,” Scribner said. “When you look at the vaccine compliance rates, unfortunately 50% of young adolescents are not getting the vaccine in the United States. Overall, 1 out of 3 women are not getting the vaccine to protect themselves from the virus.”

He said not all vaccines are free or easily accessible to the general population, which is a problem.

“When you look at the World Health Organization data — which is the entire world — on cervical cancer, it is still a very huge problem,” Scriber said. “It’s the fourth leading

Dr. Dennis Scribner says regular pap smears can lesson the number of cervical cancer

deaths. (Photo submitted)

cause of cancer in women. It’s still a big issue.”

Cervical cancer is still an issue because of the signifi cant racial and ethnic disparities in the United States.

Cancer...continued on page 25

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“The racial disparities unfortunately correlate directly to socioeconomic class,” Scribner said. “From a perspective of when you look at the women who have a higher risk of cervical cancer, it really is women who are struggling from a socioeconomic class with monetary, fi nancial issues, education issues who really lack health care.

“Unfortunately, in this country the minorities are in fact higher than caucasians who are in that class. Globally it’s Blacks and Hispanics, but there are portions of our country that it is caucasian people.”

Scribner said some people in that class need to pay rent and for food and cannot afford the vaccination.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think our country does a great job of providing free vaccines,” said Scribner, who added that vaccines should be free.

Saving lives

Scribner said regular pap smears also lessen the number of cervical cancer deaths.

“The American College of OB/GYN recommends your initial pap smear to be at 18 years old or when you become sexually active,” Scriber said.

“Typically, we are recommending with normal pap smears (to get screened) routinely every three years.”

If the test comes back abnormal, the woman should be referred to an OB/ GYN.

“You’re going to fi nd health care clinics, family physicians and nurse practitioners who are out on their own providing health care,” he said. “They are the go-to persons to do pap smears.”

Scribner compared pap smears to the importance of self-breast exams.

“For educated women, this is not an issue, because educated women are going to have insurance and know that their health care is important,” Scribner said. “They are going to know to seek out the OB/GYN doctor to say, ‘I am here for my pap smear.’

“Cervical cancer is not a disease of the educated women. It’s a disease of the lower socioeconomic women who are not thinking about health care.”

25 Avondale unveils spring/summer events

BY WEST VALLEY VIEW STAFF

The city of Avondale has unveiled the highlights of its spring and summer events.

Visit avondaleaz.gov/events or follow @AvondaleParksandRec for details. • Saturday, Feb. 5: Poppin’ in the Park, featuring “Secret Life of Pets.” • Saturday, Feb. 26, to Sunday, Feb. 27: Tres Rios Nature Festival. • Friday, March 11: Tres Rios Open Golf Tournament (new). • Saturday, April 9: KidFest Event and Superhero 5K. • Saturday, April 23, and Sunday, April 24: Family Campout (new). • Saturday, April 30: Avondale Fiesta. • Saturday, May 7: Poppin’ in the Park, featuring “Jungle Cruise.” • Saturday, May 30: Memorial Day Candlelight Vigil. • Monday, July 4: Light Up the Sky 4th of July.

“We welcome residents and visitors to Avondale to share in the festivities of a fun-fi lled event season ahead,” said Stacy Swainston, Avondale recreation supervisor.

NOTIFICACIÓN PÚBLICA

La Fuerza Aérea anuncia su intención de preparar una Declaración de Impacto Ambiental (EIS por sus siglas en inglés) para evaluar los posibles impactos ambientales de optimizar el espacio aéreo de uso especial disponible para apoyar las misiones de la Fuerza Aérea en Arizona.

Acción Propuesta: La Fuerza Aérea propone modifi caciones del espacio aéreo regional para aliviar las defi ciencias de entrenamiento y manejar las necesidades de entrenamiento en evolución para las tripulaciones aéreas estacionadas en la Base de la Fuerza Aérea Davis-Monthan, la Base de la Fuerza Aérea Luke y la Base de la Guardia Nacional Aérea de Morris en Arizona. La Acción Propuesta incluye cambiar los tiempos de uso, modifi car las dimensiones horizontales y verticales, y ajustar los atributos del espacio aéreo de uso especial existente para manejar las defi ciencias de entrenamiento causadas por el insufi ciente espacio aéreo. El espacio aéreo modifi cado soportaría el entrenamiento a baja altitud, el entrenamiento supersónico a baja altitud y el uso de chaff y bengalas. La Acción Propuesta no incluye ningún cambio en las instalaciones en Arizona (personal, infraestructura, inventario de aeronaves u operaciones de aeródromos), en la alteración del suelo debajo del espacio aéreo o despliegue de armas. El espacio aéreo propuesto para la modifi cación se encuentra en todo el sur de Arizona y una pequeña parte del oeste de New México. Comentarios del Público: La Fuerza Aérea está solicitando comentarios sobre las posibles alternativas a la Acción Propuesta e información o análisis relevantes para la Acción Propuesta. Los comentarios se pueden hacer en reuniones públicas, pueden ser enviados en línea en el sitio web del proyecto (www.ArizonaRegionalAirspaceEIS.com), o por correo a: Arizona Regional Airspace EIS, c/o Cardno, 501 Butler Farm Rd., Suite H, Hampton, VA 23666. Para garantizar la consideración completa de todos los comentarios en la preparación del Borrador del EIS, los comentarios deben enviarse antes del 4 de marzo de 2022. Reunión pública en Persona: Se están planeando reuniones públicas en persona en Ajo, Bagdad, Congress, Morenci, y Superior, Arizona, y en Animas y Reserve, New Mexico. Por favor consulte el sitio web para obtener la fecha y ubicación de cada reunión. Consulte en el lugar de la reunión o en el sitio web en caso de haber cambios o cancelaciones de última hora debido a modifi caciones en las restricciones por COVID.

ANSWERS ON PAGE 29

King Crossword

ACROSS

1 Shade 4 Frontiersman Crockett 8 Pocket bread 12 100 percent 13 Dutch cheese 14 Pedestal occupant 15 Cowboy’s sweetie 16 Do math 18 Slowpoke 20 Hydrocarbon suffix 21 Cushions 24 Persian Gulf emirate 28 Nutritional label info 32 Flamingo’s color 33 Copper head? 34 Lauder of cosmetics 36 Summer on the Seine 37 Guns the engine 39 Toe of Italy’s boot 41 Fashion 43 Hit with a stun gun 44 Ms. Thurman 46 Gossip 50 Baseball’s “Iron Man” 55 Deluge refuge 56 Now, in a memo 57 Cowboy’s neckwear 58 Luau bowlful 59 Quick swims 60 Winter blanket 61 Novelist Rand

DOWN

1 Crones 2 -- Bator 3 First lady of scat 4 Proclaim 5 Nabokov novel 6 Batman portrayer Kilmer 7 Village People hit 8 Accumulate 9 Hollywood’s Lupino 10 Nanny’s charge 11 Hearty quaff 17 German conjunction 19 Wall St. debut 22 Platter 23 Attack 25 Coffin stand 26 Con 27 Furniture brand 28 2006 Pixar film 29 Help a hood 30 Tax 31 Actress Ward 35 “Calm down!” 38 Drinks noisily 40 Spell-off 42 Brit. record label 45 LAPD alerts 47 Wine valley 48 Helen’s home 49 Related 50 Scoundrel 51 “-- was saying ...” 52 Napkin’s place 53 “-- -Tiki” 54 “Evil Woman” band

by Linda Thistle

The idea of Go Figure is to arrive at the figures given at the bottom and right-hand columns of the diagram by following the arithmetic signs in the order they are given (that is, from left to right and top to bottom). Use only the numbers below the diagram to complete its blank squares and use each of the nine numbers only once.

DIFFICULTY THIS WEEK H

H Moderate HH Challenging HHH HOO BOY!

Place a number in the empty boxes in such a way that each row across, each column down and each small 9-box square contains all of the numbers from one to nine.

DIFFICULTY THIS WEEK H H

H Moderate HH Challenging HHH HOO BOY!

EVEN EXCHANGE

by Donna Pettman

Each numbered row contains two clues and two answers. The two answers differ from each other by only one letter, which has already been inserted. For example, if you exchange the A from MASTER for an I, you get MISTER. Do not change the order of the letters.

SCRAMBLERS

Unscramble the letters within each rectangle to form four ordinary words. Then rearrange the boxed letters to form the mystery word, which will complete the gag!