Focus On Mammogram Screening October 19

Jamaica will join the rest of the world in observing World Mammography Day on Friday, October 19, under the theme: ‘Develop a Healthy Habit today… Make Screening a Habit for Life’.

This forms part of the many observations and activities that are being held across the world and in Jamaica, in commemoration of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which is observed annually in October.

Fundraising and Public Relations Officer at the Jamaica Cancer Society (JCS), Shullian Brown, has said that each year the Society observes the month in an effort to increase public awareness about breast cancer and to alert Jamaicans about the importance of  conducting regular screenings. 

She said World Mammography Day is an international activity that seeks to encourage women to do an annual mammogram, because the first defence in fighting breast cancer is early detection.

“A mammogram can detect a lump as small as the head of a pin,” Ms. Brown pointed out, while encouraging all women of screening age, 40 years and over, to do an annual mammogram.

Commenting on the activities for the day, Ms. Brown said the Society will be offering a 10 per cent discount to all its members and a discount of five per cent to all other women who visit the Society to do their mammograms.

She informed that as a result of a sponsorship received from H.D. Hopwood, there will be free mammogram screenings for the first 30 women who arrive at the JCS, located on Lady Musgrave Road in Kingston, on Friday, October 19.

She added that the opening hours will be extended from 7:30 a.m. to 6:00  p.m. in order to facilitate additional screenings for those women who have not yet done their mammogram for the year.

Ms. Brown is urging all women of screening age to develop the habit of conducting annual mammograms, so that abnormalities can be identified from an early stage and corrective measures taken.