Giant, inflatable colon does more than bring laughs

A 40-foot-long giant colon has converged on West Edmonton Mall, in an effort to let people know that colon health is sort of a laughing matter.

The inflatable colon, a free exhibit from the Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada, is complete with designs of various colon-specific illnesses such as polyps, Crohn’s disease, hemorrhoids, ulcerative colitis and, most importantly, cancer. The CCAC wants to de-stigmatize the colon with creativity and humour. The colon will be on display until Sunday, Nov. 6.

“There’s this thing about anything below the belt,” said Ronald Basdeo, the exhibit manager. “So when you have this larger-than-life exhibit, you get through to people better. You walk in and there’s a hemorrhoid bigger than you.”

Uneasy laughter and apprehension are everywhere at the exhibit. Walking through a giant colon isn’t exactly the way any patron planned on spending his or her weekend, but on its first day, heavy foot traffic kept the exhibit busy, with some people taking the tour two or three times.

More than 250,000 Canadians have taken the Giant Colon Tour since 2009.

David Moores, 63, said the colon reminded him to schedule his next appointment, an appointment he keeps every five years following a scare in 2003.

“My brother had colon cancer,” said Moores. “His doctor in Calgary insisted that I go. It took him two to three years to talk me into it. He [the doctor] asked if he had any siblings, and my brother said, ‘I have one brother.’ ”

Moores’s experience isn’t an uncommon one. According to Basdeo, too many Canadians go without screening due to embarrassment.

Moores said the thought of a colonoscopy kept him from seeing his doctor, even in the face of cancer. When Moores finally was talked into going, he turned out to be OK, but he sees the error of his ways.

“For the sake of a half hour, the relief of knowing is worth it,” said Moores, noting the ease of the procedure. “I had it done in Fort McMurray. The doctor said, ‘Hello, Mr. Moores,’ put the intravenous in my hand, and the next thing I know, it’s over.”

Moores’s brother recovered from colon cancer, which has a cure rate of over 90 per cent when caught early.

Every year, about 22,500 Canadians are diagnosed with colorectal cancer, and 9,100 are dying from it, Basdeo said. Fewer would be in that position if the Fecal Immunochemical Test were more widely used, rather than the Fecal Occult Blood Test, he said.

“It’s giving a lot of false positives and negatives,” said Basdeo.

Both tests look at blood in stool samples, but the immunochemical test,  which right now is used only in some B.C. cities, has a much higher sensitivity and specificity for abnormalities, the CCAC believes.

The giant colon is leased for $12,500 per day, $18,000 for two days and $24,000 for three days. The CCAC uses revenues for lobbying efforts and expanding the tour. With two giant colons already on tour, a third is in development, at a cost of $75,000.

Take a virtual tour of the exhibit.

‘Sputnik,’ ‘Bahala Na’ gang members share cells with Maguindanao massacre detainees

After a heavy wave of public criticism over special treatment allegedly given to high-profile Maguindanao massacre detainees, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) has reacted by instituting “reforms" at the detention facility where they are being kept.

Senior Inspector Bernardino Edgar Camus, officer-in-charge jail warden of the Quezon City Jail Annex in Taguig City, said one of the most obvious changes he had introduced since taking the post last month was “segregating" the more than 80 massacre detainees there.

While they used to be staying together inside the jail facility, the massacre detainees have now been spread out to several cells, according to Camus.

“At least kapag magkakahiwalay sila, hindi sila makakapag-usap-usap kasi may mga accusations before na baka nagpa-plano sila habang nasa loob ng kulungan," Camus said in an interview.

(At least with them separated, they can no longer confer with each other. This will put an end to accusations that they are hatching plans while in detention.)

Camus follows a long list of jail officials who had taken the helm of the Quezon City Jail Annex inside Camp Bagong Diwa. The BJMP regularly re-shuffles jail officials at the facility every three months to prevent them from getting too acquainted with the inmates and prevent giving detainees any special treatment.

Camus’ predecessor, Chief Inspector Glennford Valdepeñas, was sacked in May after Maguindanao Gov. Esmael “Toto’ Mangudadatu revealed photographs — taken in secret — of Andal Ampatuan Sr. seemingly getting special treatment at the facility such as being able to go out of his detention cell, receiving more than three visitors at the same time, and having servants.

BJMP Director Rosendo Dial already dismissed the photos, saying these depict nothing “irregular". An investigation by the Department of Interior and Local Government later revealed that the photographs had been taken in 2009, when Valdepeñas had not yet been assigned to the facility.

Sputnik, Bahala Na gangs

An added feature of Camus's segregation system is that other accused facing charges in different criminal cases have already been mixed and thrown in with the massacre suspects.

For instance, suspended Gov. Rizaldy “Zaldy" Ampatuan of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) has earlier been taken out of Cell Number 1, where his fellow massacre detainees are, and has been transferred to a separate cell.

At his new area at Cell Number 6, Zaldy is now joined by three of his co-accused in the massacre case but at the same time shares it with three other detainees, who face charges in separate criminal cases.

Camus said suspected members of notorious gangs like “Sputnik" and “Bahala Na" have already been placed together with the massacre suspects.

Considered two of the biggest organized crime groups in the Philippines, the “Sputnik" and “Bahala Na" gangs are said to be involved in drug trafficking, murder, carjacking, kidnapping, and other crimes.

“At least, mas mababantayan namin ang galaw nila kapag may nakahalong ibang mga preso [It's easier to monitor the movements of the massacre detainees by mixing them with other accused with other pending cases]," the warden said.

Remaining at Cell Number 1, where Zaldy originally used to stay, are clan patriarch Andal Sr. and his sons Andal Jr., Sajid, as well as his son-in-law Akmad Ampatuan Sr. They share Cell Number 1 with five other detainees.

Camus admitted that some lawyers of the massacre detainees objected to the segregation but the warden said he had explained to the lawyers that this was for their clients’ own interests. “So far, I think the changes I made are effective," he said.

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