Planned Parenthood Encourages Women to Get Breast Exams to Help Detect Early-Stage Cancer
October 19, 2009 8:39:49
October Is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
[Minneapolis] — In recognition of October as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota is encouraging women to make breast exams a priority.
“We see firsthand at our health centers that regular checkups save lives,” said PPMNS President and CEO Sarah Stoesz. “With approximately 16.7 million women uninsured nationwide, it’s critical that women have access to affordable, preventive health care, including cancer screenings,” Stoesz said.
Women who don’t have health insurance are more likely to postpone care and delay or forgo important preventive care such as cancer screenings, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation report. And women below the poverty level are less likely than women with higher incomes to have had a mammogram within the past two years.
PPMNS health centers offer affordable, preventive reproductive health care, including routine breast exams. Ninety-five percent of the care Planned Parenthood provides is preventive and primary. Last year PPMNS provided more than 20,000 breast cancer screenings and over 17,000 cervical cancer screenings to women and families in need of health care in 27 clinics throughout our region.
National Breast Cancer Awareness Month aims to increase public knowledge about the importance of early detection of breast cancer. Nearly 200,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year in the United States, and about 40,000 women will die from it. Breast cancer screenings, such as breast exams or mammograms, help detect breast cancer in its earliest stages.
Find a health center near you to schedule an appointment.
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PRESS CONTACT: Kathi Di Nicola
651.755.9557
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