YWCA Breast Cancer Awareness & Early Detection Program
The YWCA Breast Cancer Awareness and Early Detection Program is a vital initiative that addresses the pressing need for targeted support among women and men aged 40 and above who face challenges related to insurance coverage and access to healthcare. By offering comprehensive education and no-cost screening services for breast cancer, the program plays a crucial role in promoting early detection and ultimately saving lives. To date, this impactful program has empowered over 50,000 women through education and has facilitated clinical screenings for 12,500 women. By bridging the gap in mammography screenings, the initiative strives to prevent late-stage diagnoses and tragic outcomes. Through its multifaceted approach, including education, awareness campaigns, service coordination, and personalized case management, the program serves as a beacon of hope for women and men, helping them detect breast cancer at an early and treatable stage.
The YWCA–Breast Cancer Awareness and Early Detection Program offers:
- Mammogram Days to Provide No Cost & Low Cost Mammograms to the community
- Outreach, breast health education, screening, and support for medically under-served and/or un-insured women
- Links uninsured women aged 40-64 to various resources for annual low cost Mammogram and Clinical Breast Exam screening
- Transportation to breast health related appointments, language translation, advocacy and referral to community resources
- Reminders for annual screenings.
- Incentive gifts to women who complete mammogram screenings
- Provides one-to-one support to those with suspicious screening results, and for women diagnosed with breast cancer.
- YWCA Breast Cancer Support Group meets bi-weekly providing support and resources to women who have a cancer diagnosis or those in remission needing supportive services.
We educate all recipients about the coverage of Annual Screening Mammography and assist them in obtaining other services needed. Healthy Connections Breast Cancer Awareness Program provides FREE breast-health presentations illustrating American Cancer Society guidelines for Mammography and Self-Awareness (knowing what’s normal for them). Seek a medical provider on the importance of a Clinical Breast Exam.
Breast Cancer Statistics
- Breast cancer accounts for 12.5% of all new annual cancer cases worldwide, making it the most common cancer in the world. Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among U.S. women.
- There are currently more than 3.8 million women with a history of breast cancer in the United States. This includes women currently being treated and women who have finished treatment.
- Breast cancer incidence rates in the United States began decreasing in 2000, after increasing for the previous two decades. They dropped by 7% from 2002 to 2003 alone, this is due to breast cancer research and awareness efforts.
- The most significant risk factors for breast cancer are being a woman and getting older.
- About 85% of breast cancers occur in women who have no family history of breast cancer.
- Black women are more likely to die from breast cancer than women of any other racial or ethnic group.
- Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States for Black and Hispanic women.
- Breast cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States, following lung cancer, for Asian and Pacific Islander women, American Indian and Alaska Native women, and white women.
This information is provided by Breastcancer.org
Breast Cancer Awareness, What’s Not Normal?
Always Consult your Doctor if you experience any of the following:
- A lump or mass in the breast that feels different from the surrounding tissue
- Change is the shape, size, or appearance of the breast
- Discharge from the nipple
- Breast rash
- Changes in the skin over the breast, for example, dimpling
- Breast pain
- Inverted or pulling-in of the nipple
- Scaling, peeling, or flaking skin over the breast, particularly the dark area around the nipple
- Redness and/or pitting of the breast skin, resembling the skin of orange