Two Ontario screening programs reach men who feel perfectly well: a colon test from 45, and a letter at 65 inviting you to have your aorta scanned. Neither happens on its own — someone has to order it. Before you come, call 647.479.3152 and ask what this clinic does itself and what it refers out.
What the visit covers
- The heart numbers: blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar
- Whether a PSA test is insured for you, or billed to you
- Colon screening from 45, and who has to order the kit
- The letter Ontario sends at 65 about an aortic scan
- Lumps, groin pain or blood in the urine — ask what is seen here
Aneurysm screening: the letter at 65 is not an appointment
Since September 2025, Ontario has written to every man and woman turning 65 to invite them to be screened for an abdominal aortic aneurysm — a widening of the aorta, the body's largest blood vessel, where it runs through the abdomen. It is the first program of its kind in Canada.
The letter is an invitation, not a booking. You take it to a primary care provider, who writes the referral for a limited-study abdominal ultrasound. The scan takes 10 to 15 minutes, uses no radiation, and most imaging facilities in Ontario can do it; the result goes back to whoever ordered it. Nothing is booked for you — until you make that appointment, nothing happens.
A normal abdominal aorta is about 2 to 2.5 cm wide; an aneurysm is anything over 3 cm. Most cause nothing you would notice until they are close to rupturing, and an examination on its own usually misses them. Between 1 and 5 per cent of the people screened turn out to have one. Men aged 65 to 80 are generally advised to have the scan once. Smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, family history, age and being male are the risk factors.
An abnormal result goes on to one of Ontario's 20 designated vascular programs. Most aneurysms grow 1 to 5 mm a year and are watched rather than repaired; in men, repair is often considered at 5.5 cm. Smoking makes an aneurysm both more likely and faster-growing, and stopping is treated as part of the treatment.
What OHIP covers
An appointment with a family physician is an OHIP-covered visit, and so is blood work ordered because there is a reason for it. The PSA is the test to settle before the needle. It is insured in two situations: where a provider suspects prostate cancer, and where prostate cancer is already diagnosed and being monitored. Since 16 April 2026 the requisition has set out what counts as suspicion — family history, race, examination findings or symptoms — and prints "asymptomatic screening" in the uninsured box. If that is the box ticked, the bill is yours, so ask the lab what it charges before you hand the form in.
Walk in, or book?
Screening needs an appointment. A colon kit and an ultrasound referral both have to be ordered by a provider, so there is nothing to collect by turning up at the door. Ask the desk when you call whether a walk-in suits the symptom that brought you here. Sudden, severe pain in a testicle is the exception: that needs urgent assessment in an emergency department the same day, because the testicle itself can be lost.
What to bring
- Your health card
- Any screening letter Ontario has sent you, and the date on it
- Prostate or bowel cancer in the family — who had it, and how old they were
- Anything you take for blood pressure or cholesterol, with the strength on the label
- Earlier results from another clinic or another country, including any PSA number you have already had
Questions people ask
Ontario sent me a letter about an aneurysm scan. Does that mean something is wrong?
No. Everyone turning 65 in Ontario gets one, men and women alike, whether or not anything is wrong. It is an invitation to be screened, not a result, and most people who are screened turn out not to have an aneurysm. Take it with you to the appointment.
My father had prostate cancer. Would a PSA test be covered for me?
It can be. Family history is one of the grounds the requisition lists for suspecting prostate cancer, so feeling fine does not rule you out on its own — it is the test with nothing behind it at all that you pay for. Say what your father was diagnosed with and how old he was. That is the part that decides it.
How do I tell a testicle problem that can wait from one that cannot?
Pain, and how fast it arrived. Pain that comes on suddenly and hard is the one that cannot wait: blood flow to the testicle can be cut off and the testicle lost. A firm, painless lump you have found yourself, there for weeks, is not that — it needs an appointment, not an emergency department. Say which of the two it is when you call.
I am 58 and I smoke. Can I have the aneurysm scan now?
Not through the program. It opens at 65, when the letter goes out, and the advice for men is a single scan somewhere between 65 and 80, so there is nothing to join at 58. Smoking, blood pressure and cholesterol are the parts you can act on before then, and they are the same risks that sit behind coronary and artery disease. Ask about quitting help while you wait.
Who can order the colon kit?
The order comes from a doctor or nurse practitioner, and the kit is mailed to your home. Without a family doctor you are not stuck: Health811 can arrange it — call 811 or use the website. In some regions a mobile screening coach comes to you, and in a First Nation community the health centre or nursing station can order it. Ask here first whether the kit can be ordered for you, because the answer decides where you go.
Still have a question? Call the front desk.
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- Chronic care for diabetes, blood pressure and asthmaDiabetes, blood pressure, asthma, heart
- Quitting smoking, weight and sleepWeight, sleep, quitting smoking
