Colorectal Screening Project

Colorectal cancer is the #2 cause of cancer death in Ontario. Fortunately, it is preventable with colorectal screening. North York General Hospital’s Family Unit, entrusted Sparkplug with the task of encouraging its patients between 50 and 74 to talk to their doctors about the screening. We developed videos that were shown in the hospital’s waiting room that strongly banged home this important message. The videos were produced in four different languages, reflecting the ethnic diversity of the Family Unit’s practice. We are a pleased to report that thanks to our efforts, more patients than ever before got their butts into the office for screening.

“The screensavers created by Sparkplug took a very important piece of medical advice and made it accessible to a wide population. Our patients are always amazed to see their own language come up! It’s a great conversation starter about a largely preventable disease and was very creative”.

Kimberly Wintemute, MD CCFP FCFP, Family Physician
Primary Care Co-Lead, Choosing Wisely Canada
Assistant Professor, University of Toronto