Why My University Life Makes Me Think Cancer Screening is a Good Idea
I once sat in crowded lecture halls at the University of Western Ontario, intended for the 500 students taking the course. We came from a range of different ages, backgrounds, and interests. These intersecting identities, experiences, and backgrounds made us a great sample of a larger student population. We were starting to learn about some of the big concepts to do with public health that extended past individual risk factors.
I learned that actions taken to promote the health of 500 students can be a more effective way of bettering health than targeted interventions.
We had a guest presenter come to talk about being aware of breast cancer. She did a funny dance and mimed how you check for lumps and bumps for breast and prostate cancer. Very few of us students were eligible, but in a decade or two, we would be.
Starting that conversation is part of the promotion. You inform everyone about cancer. This conversation about health continues through life. It does not end.
The classroom conversation was a good example of what is called the socio-ecological model of health. Essentially, there are multiple levels of influence on health behaviours.
They can promote or restrict healthy behaviours and include:
Individual – knowledge, attitude, and beliefs
Interpersonal – interactions with other people
Institutional/Organizational - rules, organizational policies, or informal structures
Community – formal or informal social norms
Public policy – municipal, provincial, or federal policies (i.e., cancer screening guidelines)
Presenting to the community at large – the 500-student class – was attempting to change behaviour at the individual level. Understand your body, so when changes come, you know what is different.
The presentation was working hard at the interpersonal level to make cancer known and understood among friends and family to get checked. Cancer screening becomes a regular part of the conversation.
The institutional policy at the university enabled them to bring in the presenter to do a little funny dance and directed us afterwards to the free sexual health screening offered on campus. After we poured out of the classroom, staggering across campus in the drizzling fall weather, awareness increased.
Looking back on these events, I am delighted to see that Western has expanded to host a 4th Annual Sexual Wellness Fair in 2026. I have seen this type of fair before. Free, accessible screenings for cervical cancer through the sexual health event are readily available.
As I went further into my studies, the big lecture halls became small classrooms, hidden behind winding corridors and elevators that went nowhere as each new building or wing was patch-worked into the greater school ecosystem.
From the labyrinth of classrooms, I learned that inspiring many people to take deliberate actions to promote their health promotes the health of the entire population.
Success of public health is a non-event.
When flu season rolls around, there are fewer people sick. The lack of sickness is a non-event. [LR4] When it comes to cancer, you have more people caught in the early stages when far less invasive, and higher survivability is present.
As the Canadian Cancer Society puts it, there is something great when you screen on a regular basis. It can be summarized as follows:
If you are not sick, being screened can take away that worry
If you are sick, you can catch it earlier by regular screening
If you catch cancer in early stages, you can get early treatment
If you get treatment early, you can increase your survivability.
For breast cancer, you screen. Every two years. Rinse. Repeat. Cervical cancer screening is recommended to be done every three to five years based on risk and test. Addressing screening promotion at a policy level through public health is imperative.
Variations to these guidelines exist, and you can assess your risk online using the CancerIQ tool:
Understanding your cancer risks makes a difference.
Rural Women's Cancer
My studies soon led me to work for Gateway Centre of Excellence in Rural Health, which starts to take that knowledge and theory I have accumulated into action – for this time into Rural Women's Health.
On Tuesday, October 20th, 2026, I moderated a public lecture on “Rural Women's Cancer Risks, Screening and Community Supports".
The presentation began with a slideshow by Colleen Ouwendyk, the Director of Cancer Care & Ambulatory Services at the Brightshores Health System. Her work is in health system planning, program development, and quality improvement.
Brightshores Health System is a hospital network based in Grey and Bruce Counties in rural Southwestern Ontario on the shores of Lake Huron. Her presentation started out as informative, letting people know when you can get screened for various cancers. From there, the conversations soon became about how you can get screened. It described what barriers existed for people living in rural areas, but also ways that accessibility was increased.
Drawing on her career in public health, the conversation focused on the strength of upstream approaches – preventing people from getting sick and addressing root causes. Taking an upstream approach, changing health behaviours at the community or provincial level can be challenging. Cancer screening guidelines have changed and encourage younger adults to get screened. In 2024, Ontario opened the Breast Screening Program to women between the ages of 40 – 49.
The conversation also looked to focus on the relationship between healthcare providers and patients on a more personal level.
Agnes Waanders is a Nurse Practitioner at the Clinton Family Health Team, providing primary care among a multidisciplinary team of healthcare practitioners. A part of her regular role is to start that interpersonal conversation with her patients to encourage people to screen regularly.
According to the federal government, an estimated 79% of women aged 50 – 74 reported getting a breast cancer screening within the past three years. Part of that group can be those who are hesitant to seek out care because of a lack of knowledge or don't see the value in regular screening. This gap in health literacy combined with a lack of transportation options can create barriers to seeking care at a primary health provider.
Agnes described how she can sit down with a patient and show them how to use a colorectal screening kit. As a primary care provider, she can encourage people to be aware of family history, such as a mother or a sister who had breast cancer.
The final part of the trio of presenters was Anita Snobelem, a town councilor in Ashfield-Colbourne-Wawanosh. Her journey started as working in a community pharmacy, assisting women with breast prosthetics following cancer. This eventually expanded to a successful fashion boutique that helped women following a mastectomy.
In retirement, she moved to Goderich and led a successful fashion show for women who had experienced cancer of all types at the Kingsbridge Centre that raised over $11,000. As part of the event, she organized all the stories and narratives of people who had experienced different types of cancer. One of the stories was about a sister noticing a change in a mole on her sister. The people who were in remission acted as fashion models for the event.
Throughout this webinar, by directing questions to speakers, I was able to see at different levels of how people can benefit from changing health behaviours. I may have graduated from Western University several years ago – but some things stay with you. I remember a funny dance encouraging me to learn about my body.
I learned something from this webinar, and I hope you can learn something too!
Watch the full webinar here:
Register for the upcoming season to attend future webinars: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_XlO2os_USV6y1gl28r8_UQ#/registration ion - Zoom
This webinar is a bonus episode supported by the MaRS Innovation Challenge and the Canadian Cancer Society.
Gateway CERH has a full library of lectures and information about the upcoming presentation that can be found on our website: https://www.gatewayruralhealth.ca/lectureseries
Or watch all past lectures online on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GatewayCERH/videos
***A brief disclaimer: the views expressed in these lectures may not necessarily reflect Gateway CERH’s views or opinions, but we believe
in providing a platform for a range of perspectives and thoughtful discussion.
About Gateway Centre of Excellence in Rural Health
Founded in 2008 in the community of Seaforth, ON, Gateway CERH is a not-for-profit rural health research organization run by a community-based volunteer board of directors. Gateway CERH's main mission is to better the health and quality of life of rural residents through research, education, and communication. Follow on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube
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