Melania Trump club

Melania Trump club

Sunday, 16 October 2011

Aggressive breast cancer hits black women more

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Newton Culver’s and the Iowa Pork Producers are sponsoring a 10 percent fundrasier day on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.


All proceeds go to the local Pink Ribbon Support Group. This group of ladies is dedicated to helping breast cancer survivors, as well as those still fighting the fight. This group is active on a local basis and all donations are welcome. Stop into Newton Culver’s on Saturday to help this unique organization.


In the Fall of 1994, five women, all who were survivors of breast cancer, came together at the home of Linda Hotger to discuss the possibility of starting a support group for women with breast cancer. The group agreed that the “meetings” should include an educational offering along with time for interaction between those who came together.


On Oct. 13, 1994, the Jasper County Breast Cancer Support Group held its first official meeting in the Cafeteria Conference Room at Skiff Medical Center. Sixteen women attended.


Since then, the group has met every month (except July and August). Within the first few months, the group decided to change its name and the Pink Ribbon Support Group was born with the primary goal of education.


Through the generosity of individual donations, an account was set up to help purchase educational supplies. Within the first three years, a local sorority had fund raising activities and donated proceeds to the support group.

A gift pack is given to women who undergo breast cancer surgery at Skiff — these are also available to women in the county who might have had surgery elsewhere. The packet includes educational materials but also “fun” items donated by the group.


Along with educational publications and special programs, the group has also assisted in decorating and supplying items for the chemotherapy area at Skiff Specialty Clinic, including a lounge chair, TV with VCR and an audio system to play music during treatment sessions (CDs were also supplied). The group has also established a “library” of books that are available for sign-out. A newsletter was initiated in 2001and goes out each month to women who have undergone breast cancer surgery or treatment at Skiff.


Black women have a higher incidence rate of breast cancer before age 40 and are more likely to die from breast cancer at every age. Nationally, the death rate for breast cancer from 2003 to 2007 was 32.4 percent for black women, compared to 23.9 percent for white women, according to the American Cancer Society.
A black woman with cancer at any age is more likely than a white woman with cancer to develop cancer in the other breast. Women younger than 45 are more likely to get breast cancer that tends to be aggressive, according to a study presented last month to a American Society of Cancer Research health disparages conference.
At that same conference, Dr. Victoria L. Seewaldt, co-director of the breast and ovarian cancer program at Duke University , presented a test that can identify signaling pathways that could lead to early detection of breast cancers in young, high-risk black women even before cancer cells appear. They can lead to earlier detection and preventative measures.
“The idea of sitting around and waiting for a women to get breast cancer is unacceptable,” Seewaldt said. “The number of women who are dying is unacceptably high.”
Seewaldt said women tested to be at risk can be placed on exercise and weight loss plans and prescribed the relatively affordable diabetes drug metformin, Seewaldt said.
Aggressive breast cancer is only part of the issue, Seewaldt said. Limited access to sufficient health care and little or no insurance prevents many black women from getting proper screenings.
“A lot of young women, no matter their race, are not getting access to insurance,” she said. “The disparage falls to African American women.”
Black women have a higher percentage of late stage diagnosis (30 percent) than white women (26.8 percent) ,which researchers associated with health disparities, socioeconomic factors, language barriers and educational and cultural differences, according to Public Health — Dayton & Montgomery County.
In Montgomery County, the area county with the largest black population and most breast cancer deaths, focus is shifting from support to prevention and education for breast cancer and other illness.The Sister-Sister program, the county-funded predominately black breast cancer support group, will end Jan. 1.
Jeffrey A. Cooper, assistant health commissioner , said the $18,000 program and several others programs through the health district are being cut in anticipation of the expected $17.3 million in reduced funding from the Humane Service Levy and state for 2112 to 2015.
The county can no longer provide services that are duplicated in the community elsewhere, he said, adding that there are other support groups in the area.
Smoking cession programs and collaborative initiatives with community partners like Get Up Montgomery County are in place to combat chronic illness, he said.
“The collaborative approach is a much better use of taxpayer money than offering a support group,” he said.
Rosalee Bradley, Sister-Sister’s retiring facilitator, said black women, like others, often put their health needs last.
“We are caregivers. We take care of our children, we take are of our parents. We take care of everyone,” she said.
Bradley and Herald are among those in the Miami Valley attempting to educate black woman about the importance of earlier detection and screening.
Herald and two other Mahogany’s Child nurses hold sessions on a variety health topics including breast health for women’s groups, churches and other organizations.
They often battle misconceptions and bad habits spread from generation to generation.



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