What is Cervical Screen-a-Thon?
Cervical Screen-a-Thon (previously Pap-a-Palooza) is a month-long awareness campaign, running April 1 to 30, 2026, that encourages eligible people across Northwestern Ontario to book their cervical screening test.
What happened to Pap-a-Palooza?
In 2025, Ontario replaced the traditional Pap test with a new cervical screening test that checks for certain strains of HPV that can lead to cervical cancer. With this change, the initiative received a new name.
Learn more about the new cervical screening test on Cancer Care Ontario’s website.
What is the cervical screening test like?
The cervical screening test feels just like getting a Pap test.
A doctor or nurse practitioner will use a small, soft brush to take cells from the cervix so the lab can test the cells for types of HPV and cell changes.
Who should get a cervical screening test?
The Ontario Cervical Screening Program recommends that most eligible people ages 25-69 get screened every five years.
Get screened if you:
- are at least 25 years old.
- are a woman, Two-Spirit person, transmasculine person or nonbinary person with a cervix.
- have ever had sexual contact with another person.
- do not have symptoms, like different bleeding or discharge (clear or yellow fluid) from the vagina (genital opening), and
- are due for cervical screening according to the Ontario Cervical Screening Program’s recommendations.
Your primary health care provider can help you decide if you should continue to get screened after age 69.
If you have not been screened for more than five years, talk to your primary health care provider.
If you have had a hysterectomy, you should talk to your primary health care provider to about continuing cervical screening.
Where is Cervical Screen-a-Thon happening?
Find a full list of participating clinics across Northwestern Ontario here.
How can I book my cervical screening test?
Contact the participating clinic nearest you. Phone numbers for all participating clinics can be found here.
What happens after my cervical screening test?
You will get the results of your cervical screening test by mail. The person who did your test will also get a copy of your results and can answer any questions you may have. They can talk with you about next steps.
What is the grand prize?
After your cervical screening test, you’ll have the option to fill out a confidential survey to be entered to win a $100 gift card drawn after Cervical Screen-a-Thon. Best of luck!
Have questions?
Reach out to Shyam Kutty, Screening Promotion Planner with Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, at shyam.kutty@tbrhsc.net for more information.
