St. Bernards Medical Center is partnering with First Care Clinic physicians to kick off the month of October – a month traditionally known as Breast Cancer Awareness Month – with a special one-day event at The Mall at Turtle Creek that will make free mammograms available to qualifying uninsured women.
From 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Oct. 1, the St. Bernards Mobile Women’s Health Unit will be parked near the outside entrance of Chico’s. Specially trained staff will be on hand to perform screening mammograms for women who qualify.
The mobile unit is a 36-foot RV-type van that is equipped with a state-of-the-art digital mammography system and is used to provide digital mammography services at both industry and rural clinic sites in 17 counties in Northeast Arkansas as well as at special community events such as today’s Go Pink for the Cure program.
In order to take advantage of the free Go Pink for the Cure mammograms, women first must visit with breast health specialists who will set up a clinic at the site of the former J. Jill location across from Barnes & Noble.
The screening team will include First Care Clinic physicians who will perform free clinical breast exams and talk with women about breast health. A registered mammography technologist and a registrar will staff the mobile unit and will work with women who qualify for the free mammograms.
To quality, women must be uninsured. Those between 35 and 40 years of age qualify for a baseline screening mammogram. Women 40 years of age and older should receive annual screening mammograms. Women who qualify must have no unusual breast symptoms, breast implants or prior history of breast cancer. They also must be at least one full year out from their last normal screening mammogram.
The free mammograms are made possible in part through funding from Komen.
Today is officially “Go Pink for the Cure Day” in Jonesboro … indeed throughout Arkansas. Locally, Jonesboro Mayor Harold Perrin signed a proclamation designating it as “Go Pink for the Cure Day” … and Gov. Mike Beebe signed a proclamation so designating the day throughout Arkansas.
In addition to the Go Pink for the Cure free mammogram program at The Mall at Turtle Creek, hundreds of area women … and some men … will be taking part in Go Pink for the Cure Day at their work sites. They are joining with the Arkansas Affiliate Susan G. Komen for the Cure by making $5 donations to Komen for the “right” to wear pink … and thereby promote breast cancer awareness … at work.
Traditionally, many businesses encourage their employees to take part by wearing pink. Many then take photos of their employees and post them on their web sites. Some businesses … especially those in which at least one employee has been affected by breast cancer … wear unique … sometimes even outlandish … attire to make statements about the importance of breast cancer awareness.
Go Pink for the Cure Day is designed to bring about awareness of the importance of mammography and to remove barriers that prevent women from seeking mammograms. The American Cancer Society says one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in her life.
In Arkansas nearly 2,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer during 2010, and 440 women in Arkansas will die of the disease this year.
The best chance for survival is early detection … and that most effectively is done through monthly self-breast exams, regular screening mammograms and annual clinical breast exams.
Additional information may be secured from personnel staffing the Go Pink for the cure event at the former location of the J. Jill store at The Mall at Turtle Creek.