Pink Ribbon to illuminate St. Elizabeth Health Center in October

To promote Breast Cancer Awareness, a pink ribbon will illuminate St. Elizabeth Health Center throughout October, Breast Cancer Awareness month. The ribbon appears just under the blue cross on the south side of the south building facing the Madison Avenue Expressway.

“We hope the pink ribbon will serve as a reminder for women of our community to schedule and have their yearly mammograms,” says Juli Dulay, manager of the Joanie Abdu Comprehensive Breast Care Center. “Mammograms are the most effective way to detect breast cancer. The earlier we can diagnose and treat a breast cancer, the better the outcome for the patient.”

American Cancer Society guidelines recommend that women age 40 and older have a mammogram every year and continue to do so as long as they are in good health. Women who are at high risk for developing breast cancer may be recommended to begin having mammograms at a younger age.

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women in the United States and the second leading cause of cancer deaths. The American Cancer Society projects that in 2014, more than 230,000 American women will be diagnosed with an invasive breast cancer, nearly 63,000 will be diagnosed with in situ breast cancer – cancer that has not spread – and nearly 40,000 women will die from breast cancer. In addition, some 2,300 American men will be diagnosed with breast cancer and more than 400 will die from this disease.

In the Mahoning Valley, the situation is even grimmer with the number of women diagnosed with breast cancer exceeding both the state and national average.

One in eight American women will develop breast cancer at some point in her life.