Cancer Scanner Coming To Queens Hospital

At the launch of the “Queens Campaign Against Cancer” Symposium, local politicians promised a total $2.8 million to pay for a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) CT scanner for Queens Hospital.
The highly-sensitive scanner enables doctors to more accurately detect cancer and pinpoint its location in the body.
Assemblywoman Barbara Clark and Assemblyman Brian McLaughlin secured $1 million, and Sen. Frank Padavan raised $100,000. In addition, $1.6 million was pledged from the city council, $600,000 of which was from the discretionary funds of Councilman Jim Gennaro. Gennaro said that he had given the money in part because both of his parents died of late-diagnosed cases of cancer.
Councilmen Leroy Comrie and David Weprin assured Queens Hospital Center that they would foot the rest of the bill, either from the Council’s budget or from their discretionary funds.
The scanner is part of the hospital’s initiative to promote awareness for the disease in Queens, where the rate of patients who are diagnosed with the late stages of cancer are two to three times higher than the national average.
“We are still facing serious inequities and disparities in healthcare with respect to late-stage breast and prostate cancer, particularly among African-Americans in Queens,” said Antonio Martin, executive director of Queens Hospital Center.