Women’s Cancer Workshop helps connect women to resources
BY KADIE TAYLOR
THE LAFAYETTE SUN
EAST ALABAMA — The Breast and Cervical Cancer Program of Alabama, of the Alabama Department of Public Health, and Chambers County Health and Wellness Center is holding a Women’s Cancer Educational Workshop at the Bowen East District Center, 1319 Magnolia Road in Lanett, on Dec. 29 from 11:30 to 12:30 p.m. ET, where women can attend and learn about free cancer-screening services in the community.
Participants will learn the factors that can increase risks for breast and cervical cancer, that cancer is not a death sentence — early detection saves lives, how to protect kids from getting cervical cancer by getting the HPV vaccine and that there is a program that provides free breast and cervical cancer screenings.
“The intention of this workshop, first of all, is to educate individuals on breast and cervical cancer, and also the HPV awareness,” said Outreach Coordinator for the Alabama Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection program, Linda Hayes. “Chambers County is always in the top five of women dying and having a high mortality rate for cervical cancer. Bringing this education and awareness there will educate the ladies, and hopefully they will take advantage of the free screening that the program provides. So they can get free screening for breast and cervical cancer, [we can work to] eliminate some of the myths that we have for cervical cancer and to promote Operation Wipe Out. Our target population is the ladies with no insurance [who], at the age of 40, can enroll in our program to get free screening for breast and cervical cancer.”
Nancy Wright, Director of the Cancer Prevention and Control Division at the Alabama Department of Public Health, shared the mission and goals of Operation Wipe Out — to ensure women are not dying from a preventable disease.
“Operation Wipe Out is wiping out cervical cancer from our state and making sure no one suffers from it,” she said. “This is a disease that no one should die of, and the fact that our state has more women dying than anywhere else in the nation is unacceptable. So with Wipe Out, we’re working with community members like the Chambers County school system, the fire department and with any partner that we can find to tell women, ‘let’s wipe out cervical cancer.’ And we can do that in three steps — the first one is HPV vaccination, the second one is to get screened with the HPV pap test and the third step is, if you get an abnormal result, go back to the doctor — 60% of our women who have an abnormal HPV pap test don’t go back, and that’s where our mortality rate comes from.”
With a mission to help women access health care needed to ensure mortality rates from preventable diseases are reduced, Wright said the program also helps guide women throughout the process of care.
“The Alabama Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, which we call ABC out in the community, is a federally funded program by CDC to help us to ensure that women with low income and no insurance have access to breast and cervical cancer screening,” she said. “It’s one of the few programs in the nation and in our state that really holds the hand of the woman all the way through — we provide the screening, diagnostic care and then treatment.”
Wright said the desire to educate Chambers County Women on breast and cervical cancer and help guide those in need through treatment is a response to an immense need within the state of Alabama.
“Alabama has the top five in the nation when it comes to mortality related to cervical cancer and incidence of cervical cancer, which essentially means more women here are getting it in the nation, and more women here are dying from it than the nation,” she said. “So in a state that is already in the top five, we’re working in the county that has some of the highest rates. We know that women that don’t have access to care because they don’t have insurance are those who often most need the screening. That’s why we’re doing everything we can to let the community know there’s a program out there that can provide free breast and cervical cancer screening, diagnostic care and treatment if needed. If you find out that it’s abnormal, you’re not just left stranded; we’ll take care of you and make sure that you get everything that you need.”
With the desire to empower through knowledge, Hayes said she hopes local women will come to the workshop and receive trusted, accurate information about their health.
“Knowledge is power and education is the key, [I want local women to] come out so they can get information, factual information, because there are so many myths out there,” she said. “Come out to an education awareness event where you will receive factual information. And if you want to sign up for the program, we can actually get you to sign up at that moment, [and] give you information on where you can go to get the screening.”
There is no fee or required reservation, but attendees are asked to call Aletha King at (706) 773-1281 for questions and so organizers can have an estimate of how many are attending.
