Health department extends deadline for collecting data in Bayshore High cancer study

Current and former Bayshore High School students and faculty who have been diagnosed with cancer will have an extra month to voluntarily submit information for a study being conducted by the state health department.

Anyone who attended or worked at the high school, 5401 34th St. W., between 1962 and now who has been diagnosed with any cancer can fill out and submit a patient listing form through Friday, March 30. The form can be found at the health department, 410 Sixth Ave. E., or online at manatee.floridahealth.gov, and must be either mailed or hand-delivered.

“We are extending the data collection period to ensure that everyone who wishes to participate in this health study has enough time to submit their information,” said Jennifer Bencie, the health officer for the Florida Department of Health in Manatee County. “We want to make sure we are doing the most thorough job possible.”

A mobile data collection event will take place at State College of Florida, 5840 26th St. W., from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Feb. 17. Those who want to drop off their forms can do so in the DOH-Manatee Health Coach parked in the 34th Street West lot.

The study is being conducted at the direction of the Manatee County School Board and Board of County Commissioners after concerns again were raised early last year that the school had been causing what is believed to be an inordinate amount of cancer cases. Numerous studies have been conducted at the site, but nothing out of the ordinary was found.

So far, the health department has received more than 110 surveys. The school district has sent out more than 24,000 mailers with the form to the last known addresses of students and faculty of the school since 1985, which is when electronic records began.

After the information is collected, it will be compared with the state’s cancer registry database. Officials expect the results to be available by this fall.

This story was originally published February 5, 2018 at 4:03 PM with the headline "Health department extends deadline for collecting data in Bayshore High cancer study."