TAMPA, Fla. — Breast cancer kills more than 40,000 women each year in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
A study from April 2024 showed that only 65% of women ages 50-74 with three or more health-related social needs are up to date with their mammograms. Health-related social needs include feeling socially isolated, a loss of work or reduced hours, receiving food stamps, a lack of transportation, the cost of access to care and dissatisfaction with life.
The CDC said women who are dealing with at least three of these things are less likely to get a mammogram.
Rachel Burke, a Diagnostic Radiology Specialist at Adventhealth Tampa said women should start getting annual mammograms starting at age 40. She said those annual screenings are really important because they can show cancer oftentimes way before you feel a lump.
“There are different signs of cancer. There are masses and then there are wheat we call calcifications. What I explain to them about the calcification part is if you took their regular mammogram and you sprinkled salt or gravel across their mammogram,” she said. “We can find things very small and early, and so you don’t want to wait until the lump taps you on the shoulder to come in because usually, at that point, it’s quite large.”
If you’d like to catch the ear of several AdventHealth doctors in one room this upcoming Saturday, June 22, for $10, you can go to the Women’s Health and Cancer Prevention event. You will get important information from some of Tampa’s leading health experts on topics like cervical, digestive, and breast cancer, heart health, fad diets and more.
You’ll also be treated to an all-day marketplace, facials, massages, health screenings and other resources.
Ticket proceeds will benefit the Kay Meyer Breast Care Center and patients who may not be able to afford mammograms and biopsies. Get tickets here.
A state report says hundreds of frail elderly nursing home residents were stacked side by side, head to toe in a small church with no working air conditioning or refrigerator during Hurricane Helene.
