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Tudela proclaims Breast Cancer Awareness Month
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Posted on Oct 17 2008
With the rate of breast cancer on the rise in the CNMI, Saipan Mayor Juan Tudela proclaimed the start of Breast Cancer Awareness Month in a conference with survivors of the disease and public health officials Friday.
“It is very alarming to know that the rate of breast cancer here in the CNMI has gone up last year,” Tudela said, pointing to statistics that show doctors diagnosed 32 women in the islands with it from 1997 to 2007. 25 of those women have since died. The CNMI once had one of the lowest rates of breast cancer, he added.
To prevent breast cancer, the mayor offered advice from the Centers for Disease Control and advocacy groups, urging women to exercise regularly, eat healthily and investigate whether they have a family history of it.
“To all cancer survivors who are still battling with the cancer, think positive that you are not alone out there,” he said.
Public Health Secretary Joseph Kevin Villagomez said the health officials have recently signed a contract with a radiology company to read and interpret mammography images. Previously, he said, patients sometimes had to wait weeks for mammogram results but with the new deal, set to begin Dec. 1, prompter readings are assured.
“Early detection is really the cornerstone,” he said. “Now we know for sure that someone is always going to be reading these scans.”
Breast Cancer Awareness Month will take place from Oct. 17 to Nov. 17.
