Genetic Screening Sunday

Most of my Sundays involve errands, and then some dedicated time to relaxing and recharging before the upcoming week. This past Sunday I spent ~8 hours at a screening event that we ran at YU, open to Yeshiva College and Stern College students and alumni, and community members in Washington Heights. Registration opened ~3 weeks ago, and we were almost at capacity within days. We ended up screening ~140 individuals (not too shabby if you ask me!).

Screening events such as this one are really great, but also very challenging. They are great because it enables a large audience to benefit and pursue carrier screening in a convenient and centralized location. Screening events are challenging because of all the planning, coordination, and logistics which are involved in counseling and testing literally hundreds of people at a time.

One of the things which made this event run so smoothly is a new video we created as a tool to teach people about Jewish carrier screening. We decided to make this short video around the same time that I filmed the video for our new GeneSights lesson about Preconception Carrier Screening. Some of the more amusing parts of the day were all of the “You’re the woman from the video!” comments that I got. You can access the full GeneSights lesson by signing up and signing in here.

Even though it was a very long day, luckily, we had a ton of help! Special thanks to all our physicians, genetic counselors and genetics fellows, volunteers from the YU Medical Ethics Society, volunteer genetic counseling students, and our phlebotomists! (Anna, Ariella, Aryeh, Avi, Barrie, Carol, Chana, Chris, Emily, Jon, Mickey, Pauline, Sam, Sara Malka, Sara Malka [yup there were 2], Shirley, Susan, Tehilla, Temima, Yocheved, and Yosef). We could not have done it without you! A big thanks to Estie Rose, our genetic counselor who organized the event. The day went so smoothly, and in my opinion, was a big success. Now it’s time to wait for the results and begin the never ending process of follow up. Since 1 in 3 Ashkenazi Jews is a carrier for one of the conditions we screen for, I guess we’ll be expecting ~47 carriers from this screening event. That’s a lot of follow up!

If you missed the event but would still like to be screened, check out these great instructions on how!