Your Local Guide to Better Living
HEALTH Fall 2020
INSIDE This Issue
THE PALAZZO ........ 7 Ongoing safety protocols and practices keep community safe
HOME INSTEAD ............. 12 The Castlemans are Home Instead’s new local owners
ARIZONA ONCOLOGY ......... 21 AZ Oncology reminds women to have mammograms
WELLNESS Special Supplement to The Glendale Star and Peoria Times
Cancer During COVID-19: the ticking time bomb BY DR. PAT BASU
President Cancer Treatment Centers of America
COVID-19’s impact goes far beyond the illness itself. Lives have changed drastically to get the virus under control and ultimately “flatten the curve.” However, there is yet another curve that needs our urgent attention—a ticking time bomb that is flying under the radar: the cancer “Shadow Curve.” The pandemic has caused far too many people to skip treatments and miss routine cancer screenings. And while delaying scans or treatments may have felt like the most prudent action seven months ago, evidence predicts that a few years from now, we may look back and wish we had taken a different approach. The National Cancer Institute states that annual cancer screening is one of the most effective ways to detect and beat this dreaded disease and “when abnormal tissue or cancer is found early, it may be easier to treat or cure.” If our society continues to delay cancer screenings and treatments, the result will be disastrous for both the individual patients and the health system as a whole. In fact, an April IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science report estimated that the delay in 22 million cancer screening tests will result in increased risk of delayed or missed diagnoses for 80,000 patients. In July, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, reported that COVID-19-related
Cancer Treatment Centers of America has a location in Goodyear. (Photo courtesy CTCA)
reductions in cancer screening and treatment over the next decade could potentially result in 10,000 excess deaths from breast and colorectal cancer alone. To put it another way, a new American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) survey found more than a quarter (26%) of cancer patients and survivors reported delays in their cancer care because of coronavirus. The survey also found 45% of respondents are worried that if COVID-19 cases continue to rise the effect on the health care system will make it harder for them to access their
Midwestern University Therapy Institute
Your Family’s Home for Healthcare Call for an appointment: 623-537-6000 | www.mwuclinics.com
cancer care. Already more than two-thirds of Americans report that their scheduled cancer screenings, such as mammograms and colonoscopies, have been delayed or skipped during the COVID-19 crisis. Since March, the US has witnessed massive drops in cancer screening including mammography (down 87%), colonoscopy (down 90%) and pap smear (down 83%). As the fear of second waves emerges, the problem is only exacerbated with COVID-19 cases monopolizing hospital resources and
Cancer...continued on page 2