October is Breast Cancer Awareness month

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month

This month is Breast Cancer Awareness month. During October, and throughout the year, we can heighten visibility of this disease. We can also work to ensure that women from all communities know more about the risks of breast cancer and the importance of timely screening and detection. Here are some of my thoughts about this important observance. #BreastCancerAwarenessMonth

As a woman, and as the leader of an organization dedicated to keeping women and their families healthy, Breast Cancer Awareness month is incredibly important to me. It is a time to increase visibility about a disease that affects so many and to share life-saving knowledge with friends, loved ones and our communities.

Even when the illness is highly treatable, the ripples of a breast cancer diagnosis are felt by entire families—spouses, children, friends and colleagues. And when women undergo treatment, especially when prolonged, it can take a toll on their physical stamina, their ability to support and nurture their families, and to their own emotional well-being.

 Breast cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer among females in the United States, second only to skin cancer. The reality is that nearly one in eight women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime and women of color carry an even more significant burden. According to the American Cancer Society, Black women have a higher incidence of developing breast cancer before the age of 40 than white women and Black women are 41% more likely to die from it. It is also the leading cause of cancer death among Hispanic women.

The American Cancer Society also reports that the wide disparity in breast cancer death rates between Black and White women likely reflects fewer cancers being diagnosed at a localized (early) stage (57% in Black women compared with 67% in White women), as well as less access to high-quality treatment. Black women have a lower 5-year survival rate overall and for every stage of diagnosis. And, about 82% of Black women live at least 5 years after their initial breast cancer diagnosis, as compared to 92% of White women.

At Kaiser Permanente, we are determined to do better for the women we care for, and we are determined to do more to reverse these clear disparities. We are seeing some promising shifts and that work must continue. In the Mid-Atlantic states region, our breast cancer survival rate for the African American patients that we care for is 91%, compared to a national average of 81.5%.

 Screening and early detection are essential, but these services must also be convenient for patients. To do this, we offer mammograms at nearly all our medical centers. We help alleviate the added stress many of us feel when waiting for results, by providing our members with their results in under an hour. If everyone screened patients for breast cancer at the same rate we do, together we could save more than 1,200 lives every year. That number represents grandmothers, mothers, sisters, daughters – the many women in our lives, and men who are sometimes impacted by breast cancer as well.

 In addition to detection and treatment, we know that outcomes are influenced by much more than the care a patient receives. It is also about the conditions in a person’s life such as transportation to appointments, access to nutritious, fresh foods or having a safe, stable place to live. New research from Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research found that cancer patients experiencing housing instability were twice as likely to die. It is all interconnected.

 To that end, as healthcare leaders we can do more to help all women get the care that they need, and we can all take steps to create better conditions that support wellness. This may mean encouraging your loved ones, your friends in your social circle and your employees to take time away from work to get a mammogram. It could also mean funding a grant or program to increase health education for women.

 Whatever you commit to doing, please consider the women living with breast cancer today, and the countless women who may confront a new diagnosis. Join me in reassuring them that they are not alone and demonstrate to them that this month, and this year, we will work to lessen the incidence of breast cancer.

Caryn Katz-Loffman

Human Dimension Assistant Course Director & Professional Identity Formation Director at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine

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