Smoking (including secondhand smoke and smokeless tobacco, sometimes called “chewing tobacco” or “snuff”) is the largest risk factor for getting head and neck cancer. And people who use both tobacco and alcohol are many times more likely to get head and neck cancer than people with neither habit.
Wendy Hall and Amy Roberts have served our community as onsite Licensed Clinical Social Workers ever since joining RBOI in 2011. “It’s our goal to meet every new patient as soon as possible,” Wendy says. “I feel it’s imperative that people help walk people through very stressful (and they can be catastrophic) times in their life.
Through early detection, screening can make cancers easier to treat and help reduce cancer deaths. Cancer screening is done when you have no symptoms. Symptoms mean that cancer may have grown, spread, and be harder to treat.
Mindfulness techniques help us become more resilient to life’s challenges. Amy Roberts, LCSW and Mindfulness Meditation Teacher at RBOI, says that developing a nonjudgmental, beginner’s mind is key.
Low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) screening can reduce lung cancer deaths by up to 20% compared to standard chest X-rays, by detecting tumors at early stages when they are more likely to be curable. But lung cancer screening rates are low across the U.S. and even lower in Florida. The American Lung Association’s “State of Lung Cancer” report places Florida in 42nd place for lung cancer screening.