IF YOU’RE CATCHING a bus in Northern Ireland…don’t be too shocked if the bus shelter starts coughing.
It’s part of a Public Health Agency (PHA) ‘Be Cancer Aware’ campaign to raise awareness of the key signs of lung cancer.
The shelters, which are specially built to cough intermittently when people are waiting for a bus, have already started appearing on the streets of Belfast and Derry.
Passengers will hear a man coughing before a woman’s voice recommends visiting the GP if they, or someone they know, has had a cough for three weeks or more.
Dr Miriam McCarthy, Consultant in Public Health Medicine at the PHA, explained: “None of us really wants to talk about cancer, but it is vital that we are aware of the signs and symptoms and get checked out if we experience any of them.
These bus shelters will help grab people’s attention in an interesting way and get them thinking about lung cancer.
“If lung cancer is diagnosed early, two in five patients will survive five years or more. However, when the diagnosis is made later on, only one in 50 will live this long.
“One reason patients are often diagnosed late is that they are unaware of the symptoms of lung cancer. The ‘coughing’ bus shelter is therefore a great opportunity to explain to people the potential significance of a cough, reaching them when they’re least expecting it.”
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