By Trevier Gonzalez

The Orange Leader

“It’s not just about prostate cancer anymore,” Christina Morris said from the podium at the Commissioners’ Court.

As both a registered nurse and resident within Orange, Morris has been working with the Julie Rogers “Gift of Life” program for approximately three years.

According to giftoflifebmt.org, since the program’s establishment in Beaumont in 1994, it was originally dedicated to providing free mammograms for medically underserved women.

Since then, the movement has diagnosed nearly 250 medically underserved Southeast Texans with cancer and navigated them into treatment, eventually growing to become one of the largest cancer screening initiatives in the state of Texas.

Though prostate cancer remains their focus, in 2000, the program expanded.

“We’re also doing HIV screenings, Hepatitis C screenings, blood pressure, glucose, cholesterol,” Morris said. “You get the whole workup rather than just us looking for prostate cancer.”

The screenings will take place on Saturday, June 4 at Lamar State College-Orange from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

“These men will have testing that’s upward of around $200 worth of testing and free screenings,” Morris said.

In addition to testing, healthcare will be available for those who are applicable.

“Then we have local clinics provide care for people who are uninsured or underinsured,” she said. “Those people can be provided care in our area.”

As Morris finished her proclamation to those in the Orange County Commissioners’ Court, the nurse accentuated that the area becomes a healthier community when they choose to take care of those that are underserved.

“As we all know, the burden is great when they show up in the emergency room for the primary care,” Morris said. “So that is the goal of the ‘Gift of Life,’ that is to prevent those kinds of things from happening.”

For more information, or to register for a men’s health screening, call (409) 860-3369.