Who needs Mammograms?

Posted on: May 30, 2013Chicago

Post Written by CHC Member Melissa Rothman

Melissa serves as a Health Educator with Erie Family Health Center - West Town

Recently, celebrity Angelina Jolie announced her preventative double mastectomy in the New York Times.  As a carrier of the BRCA1 gene, Jolie reportedly reduced her 87% risk of breast cancer to 5% through this surgery, and her mastectomy announcement draws necessary attention to breast cancer prevention.  However, it is important for women to understand that only a small fraction of breast cancers are caused by genes.  Increasing the number of women that receive mammograms could lead to many more cured cases of breast cancer. 

 According to the Chicago Breast Cancer Task Force,'75% of women that die from breast cancer have not received regular mammograms."  Unfortunately, funding to the Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program (IBCCP), which provides mammograms to uninsured women, may be cut by $3 million dollars in this next fiscal year.  Currently, only about 1 in every 8 -10 uninsured women are covered by the program.  These cuts will leave even more women without coverage, and disproportionately affect communities of color.

My service host site, Erie Family Health Center, has an IBCCP program and a monthly breast cancer support group.  Both breast cancer survivors and those currently undergoing treatment attend the group to share their experiences and support each other.  Recently, I helped organize a rejuvenation event for the support group.  The women were treated to makeovers and manicures, a fitting for free prosthetic bras, and a new wig trimming station.  The ladies left the event feeling refreshed and happy. For me, the best and most emotional part of the day was a'wish tree" where the women wrote down their wishes and hung them on the tree to share.  One wish read,'I wish that all women understand the seriousness of getting their mammogram on time."  By raising awareness through stories like Angelina Jolie's, we hope that mammograms can become a universal part of healthcare for every woman.

To find out if you may need to get tested for the BRCA gene mutations, click here.

If you are age 35 or older, you should be getting regular mammograms. For a list of organizations that give free and reduced cost mammograms, click here.