Dorchester Hosts 4th Annual Prostate Health Educational Symposium

On May 21 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m., PHEN Hosts "4th Annual Prostate Health Educational Symposium" at Dorchester's Greater Love Tabernacle Church with Rev. William Dickerson and Boston's Black Community Leaders. The event is free and open to the public.

"Some of our�most effective educational outreach efforts are in partnership with churches, and we are anxious to accelerate this success by expanding our church partnerships in 2016, the need for more progress within black America remains urgent," said Thomas A. Farrington, PHEN president and founder.

The event will highlight prostate cancer risk, treatment options and survivorship strategies. Among the free services offered are free PSA screenings, free breakfast, and more.

Over the past 12 years, the overall death rate for prostate cancer has dropped by 40 percent, and declined at a rate six percent faster for black men than for white men, according to government statistics. PHEN's mission is to eliminate the African American prostate cancer disparity and partnering with churches is a key part of its strategy.

Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer for men in the U.S., and the second leading cause of cancer deaths, following lung cancer. However, within black America the incidence rate is 60 percent higher and death rate 130 percent higher than for white men, making this the largest racial disparity for any type of major cancer among men or women.

Important Stats:

One of every five black men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer within their lifetime and will die from the disease at a rate of 2.3 times greater than men of all other ethnic and racial groups. The Prostate Health Educational Symposium will focus on the needs of: