Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 7, 1995 TAG: 9510070027
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Carilion Health System of Roanoke joined Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta and Hartford Hospital in Connecticut this week as a national award winner for work in breast-cancer screening and education.
The three facilities were chosen from 100 entries to be recognized by the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month Board. Each got a $5,000 grant, given by the board and Zeneca Pharmaceuticals in ceremonies in Washington.
Breast cancer is the second leading cause of death for women, behind lung cancer, and the leading cause among women ages 40 to 45, according to the American Cancer Society.
In 1993, 1,020 women in Virginia died of breast cancer. But 90 percent of the breast cancer cases found in early detection are treated successfully, statistics indicate.
Carilion was recognized for its outreach program to Southwest Virginia women, including its partnership with businesses such as Elizabeth Arden, to make women more aware of the need for mammograms. Employees of the hospital system gave breast health awareness programs to more than 3,500 women between October 1993 and June 1995.
The American Cancer Society recommends that a woman get her first mammogram by age 40 - then every two years between then and age 50 and every year after 50.
Later this month, a Carilion affiliate, Bedford County Memorial Hospital, will be one of 10 institutions to get a National Project Grant from The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Bedford will get a $15,280 grant to help with its outreach program to low-income, uninsured Bedford County women.
Dr. Joel Shapiro, director of Bedford Memorial's Breast Imaging Center who was in Washington to accept the board award Thursday, will go to Dallas Oct. 17 and 18 for the Komen award program.
As part of the monthlong effort to bring attention to the issue of breast cancer, cancer survivors and volunteers will model in a 2 p.m. fashion show today at Tanglewood Mall. They will introduce Discovery Shop, a secondhand clothing store just opened by the cancer society.
On Tuesday, Virginia's first lady, Susan Allen, will be in Galax to promote the awareness month. She will speak on the issue during a tour of Twin County Community Hospital. In 1994, the National Governors' Association spouses took on breast cancer awareness as a project, and Allen intends to make it a commitment throughout her tenure as first lady, her office said.
Before her husband was elected governor, she volunteered with the Charlottesville chapter of the American Cancer Society. The first lady has a personal interest in the issue, as well, said a spokeswoman. Allen has aunts who have been treated for breast cancer, and her mother-in-law, Etty Allen, also has had breast cancer.
One of the messages the cancer society is trying to convey to women is that the chances of their being diagnosed with breast cancer increases with age. At age 25, the chances are 1 in 21,441. By age 60, the chances are 1 in 24.
However, a 1991 survey of women 65 and older found that only 10 percent knew the risk increased with age and only 29 percent knew Medicare pays for screening mammography.
by CNB