NEWS RELEASE
PORCUPINE HEALTH UNIT
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New name. Same important focus.
The newly branded Mammo-Rama Breast Screening Challenge (formerly the 50 Over Fifty OBSP Challenge) aims to encourage eligible women, who have never been screened for breast cancer, to get a mammogram.
This year, nine Ontario Breast Screening Program (OBSP) locations, including Timmins, will rise to the challenge across the North East.
Women between the ages of 50 and 74 can come to the Timmins and District Hospital between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Monday, May 4, 2015 to get their mammogram.
Two barriers that are known to discourage women from participating in breast screening are fear and time constraints.
Some women worry the test will be painful, some fear the test will find cancer and some women just don't have time in their busy calendars to schedule an appointment.
“The Mammo-Rama Breast Screening Challenge takes an upbeat approach to recruitment. This one day event not only offers walk-in appointments, but generates friendly competition between northern communities as well. We can SQUEEZE you in!” says Stephanie Gravel, a Public Health Nurse with the Porcupine Health Unit.
Breast cancer screening can find cancer at an earlier stage and result in better health outcomes.
Research shows that regular screening of women aged 50 to 74 can reduce mortality, yet only 60 percent of Ontario women were screened in 2011-2012.
“There are still many women who would benefit from regular breast screening and the Mammo-Rama Breast Screening Challenge aims to bring that message home,” says Gravel.
In Ontario, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women and the second leading cause of cancer deaths in females.
Eight out of ten breast cancers are found in women 50 years of age or over.
An estimated 9,300 women were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013 and approximately 1,950 women died of the disease that year.
The Porcupine Health Unit is located in Northeastern Ontario, serving the entire Cochrane District and Hornepayne, in Algoma District.
The main office is located in Timmins, Ontario, with branch offices in Cochrane, Hearst, Hornepayne, Iroquois Falls, Kapuskasing, Matheson, Moosonee and Smooth Rock Falls.
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