Know Your Body/Breast Health Education For Teens

You know the discouraging news. Washington, D.C. has the highest breast cancer rate in the U.S. And African American women and men die of breast cancer more than any other race. But the up side of this is that Early Detection can make a life saving difference.
For African Americans, it means starting lifelong habits for good breast health at an early age. Also, women must share this news with their Buddies. Make sure your Buddy understands the importance of Prevention & Early Detection too.
I know, sometimes, seeing is believing. So to help you make the case, Howard University Cancer Center and Prevent Cancer Foundation have produced the DVD - Breast Health Education For Young Women. The video promotes teen breast self-examination. It features Kimberly Higgenbotham. She was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer at age 23. Kimberly now heads Project Early Awareness, an innovative educational program in Washington, D.C., designed to reduce breast health disparities in minority communities. The program is active in 14- DC Public High Schools. It encourages high-school girls to develop good breast-health habits and to share information about screening for breast cancer with their mothers, grandmothers, aunts and other female relatives.

To see a clip from the Breast Health Education for Young Women DVD click here.

For a link to Prevent Cancer Foundation to otain the video and a skills based activities guide click here

You can also call Kimberly Higgenbotham at Howard University's Cancer Center. The number is 202-806-7697 or visit http://www.huhosp.org/

If you have a story you'd like to share about your Buddy or yourself, please email me. Remember, something you say or do could save a relative, a friend, or another Buddy.

Avon Walk For Breast Cancer's "Great Start Party"

This year's Avon Breast Cancer Walk for the D-C area is the first weekend in May. The group's national operations director, Tanisha Smith, joined me on 9NEWS NOW at 9AM to talk about the the "Great Start Party", the organization's annual kickoff event. Click here to see my interview with Tanisha Smith.

Take care,
Andrea

What' s Stopping Some Women From Getting Mammograms

A Medicare co-pay of just ten dollars is what keeps some older women from getting a much needed mammogram.
A study out this morning in the New England Journal of medicine finds screening rates were eight percent lower among women required to pay a co-pay for a mammogram.
Women whose insurance covered the entire cost were more likely to get one.
The study's authors encourage Medicare to drop the co-payment on mammograms.
To read the entire study click here.

And in the Washington DC area, George Washington University Medical Center wants to help women who can't afford a mammogram to get one. Taking away any excuses, the state of the art GW Mammovan will come to your neighborhood or job site.
To see where the Mammovan is going next and to find out if you are eligible for a free or low cost screening test click here.

Breast Surgery & New Worries For Patients

Buddies, FYI.

I want to call your attention to this interesting, but disturbing story I found in today's Wall Street Journal from the Reuters News Service.

*****More than one in 20 patients undergoing breast surgery later developed infections at incision sites, according to a new study, a complication that was more common than thought.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates the infection rate following breast removal surgery at 2%, although earlier surveys put it at anywhere between 1% and 28%.
In the two-year study published in this month's issue of the Archives of Surgery, 5.3%, or 50, of nearly 950 patients developed infections within a year of their procedures, inside and outside the hospital. The average time between surgery and infection was 47 days.
"The surgical site infection rates following breast surgery seem to be much greater than the nationally reported incidence of 2% and much higher than what is expected for clean surgical procedures," Margaret Olsen of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis wrote in her report.

Roughly one in eight women in the study who had a cancerous breast removed and then underwent breast reconstruction with an implant developed an infection. The infection rate was 7% among those who had breast reconstruction using tissue from the abdomen, where infections also struck. Infections occurred in 4% of women having a mastectomy, and among 1% of those having breast-reduction surgery.

Virginia Is A Buddy to Women

Kudos to Virginia Governor Tim Kaine for allocating $300,000 for the Virginia Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program.. The American Cancer Society also kicked in $50,000 for the program. This life saving program is aimed at women who have little or no insurance.
Finding abnormal cells early can prevent cervical cancer. And in his announcement, Governor Kaine called early detection the key to reducing Virginia's breast cancer death rate, which is slightly higher than the national average.

In DC, a similar initiative is called Project Wish. To find out if you are eligible for this District program, call 1-888-833-WISH [9474]

For Maryland's Breast & Cervical Detection program, call the health depart in your local jurisdiction.

Breast Cancer Patient Care @ Georgetown Nationally Recognized

The breast imaging center at Georgetown University Hospital has been named a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence by the American College of Radiology (ACR), making it the only breast imaging center in the Washington, DC/Maryland area to receive the designation. This national recognition is given to a select few number of centers that have been accredited in comprehensive breast imaging that includes mammography, stereotactic breast biopsy, breast ultrasound, and ultrasound-guided breast biopsy. The Center of Excellence designation indicates that breast imaging in the Betty Lou Ourisman Center has the mandatory accreditation and has voluntarily participated in a vigorous review process to ensure it has met and exceeded nationally accepted patient care standards.

This Center of Excellence status has only been granted to 177 of the more than 8800 certified breast imaging centers in the United States, or roughly two-percent.

Breast imaging takes place within the Betty Lou Ourisman Breast Health Center under the direction of Shawna Willey, MD and co-director, Robert Warren, MD.

“This is great news for our patients and the community as a whole, “ said Erini Makariou, MD, chief and director of Breast Imaging at Georgetown University Hospital. “It means that patients have access to the highest quality of diagnostic care here at Georgetown. It means they can rely on us to have a variety of state-of-the-art equipment, the best people to help them through the process and get the most accurate results possible.“

In order to receive the ACR’s Breast Imaging Center of Excellence designation, Georgetown’s imaging center is fully accredited by ACR in mammography (also accredited by an FDA-approved state accrediting body), stereotactic breast biopsy, breast ultrasound and ultrasound guided breast biopsy.

“We are very proud to have received this recognition from the ACR. Being named a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence shows that the center is the premier provider of breast imaging services in the Washington, DC area. We have an excellent team of radiologists, technologists and support staff dedicated to providing women with highly specialized breast imaging services and advice in a comfortable setting designed around the needs of the patient,” said Dr. Makariou.

This past year approximately 14,000 screening / diagnostic mammograms and almost 1,300 breast ultrasounds, MRI’s and interventional procedures (biopsies) were performed at the Betty Lou Ourisman Breast Health Center.

The American College of Radiology, headquartered in Reston, VA is a national organization serving more than 32,000 diagnostic/interventional radiologists, radiation oncologists, nuclear medicine physicians, and medical physicists with programs focusing on the practice of medical imaging and radiation oncology as well as the delivery of comprehensive health care services.

A DEATH IN MY FAMILY

Each month in my Buddy Check 9 reports or when I speak to community groups, I stress the importance of Prevention & Early Detection. Early Detection saves lives. If cancer is found, early detection gives you more options for treatment. I urge women & men to follow the cancer screening guidelines---if not for yourself, then do it for those you love. Do it to prevent the heartbreak my husband's family is now feeling.
My brother-in-law, Patrick Skehan, died this weekend, 32-days after he was diagnosed with late stage colon cancer. As we held vigil at his bedside and watched him breathe his last, I couldn't help but think---this shouldn't be happening. Colon Cancer is preventable, treatable, and beatable if caught early. The 4-surviving siblings all agreed, Patrick was the healthy one. He had regular physicals, but he never had a colonsocopy.
The American College of Gastroenterologists has issued new guidelines for African Americans regarding screening for colon cancer. Noting that African Americans are more likely to be diagnosed with colon cancer at a younger age, they are suggesting that African Americans begin getting colonoscopies at age 45 -- 5 years earlier than whites. Colon cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among African Americans. Patrick was 60 years old and well over due for the life saving screening test under the old & new guidelines.
Before he died, I thanked Patrick for saving my husband's life. When Patrick called us to tell us about his diagnosis, he urged us to practice early detection & get screened. Michael was always too busy when I nagged him to get screened, but this time he didn't resist. The test found a polyp, it was removed, but it wouldn't turn into a serious problem because it was detected early.
I am glad Michael is safe, but my heart aches at the loss of Patrick's friendship, humor and zest for life.

Feel free to share your thoughts here on my BLOG. Something you say or do may help a Buddy
Early Detection Saves Lives