For more information, contact Cindy Young, (937) 775-3232.
October 12, 1999
October Breast Cancer Awareness Month
African American women are more likely to die of breast cancer than any other racial or ethnic group. As National Breast Cancer Awareness Month kicks off this month, Wright State University is doing its best to help these women beat the odds with a $150,000 grant from the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
The grant will fund a community advocacy project to increase breast cancer screening in a hard-to-reach segment of Dayton's population: African American women, 50-64, who live in urban neighborhoods and have little or no health insurance.
Barbara Fowler, Ed.D., associate professor of nursing and the grant's principal investigator, competed with cancer research organizations and universities across the country for Komen funding. Most of the $150,000 grant will fund the part-time employment of Dayton area residents already working as community health advocates through the Center for Healthy Communities, a Wright State, Sinclair Community College partnership with the Dayton community. After receiving extensive training in ethics and community relations, the advocates will hit the streets of their own neighborhoods, "seeking out African American women everywhere—in their homes and in daycare and community centers," said Fowler, a 20-year veteran in community and women's health issues. "The advocates will serve as spokespeople for the mammography resources in their own communities."
Eligible African American women can receive free mammograms and clinical breast exams through the Breast and Cervical Cancer Project, a federally funded program made available in Ohio in 1994 through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Mammography screening can identify abnormalities in breast tissue before physical symptoms develop, increasing survival and treatment options. Regular mammograms have been shown to reduce breast cancer mortality among all women by at least 30 percent in the age group targeted by Fowler's program.
"Overcoming women's fears is the key to getting them in for mammograms," said Fowler, "and early prevention is the key to eradicating breast cancer."
WRIGHT STATE AWARDED GRANT FOR
BREAST CANCER COMMUNITY ADVOCACY PROJECT
