The Riverside Breast Education Clinic and Northwestern Ontario Breast Screening Program held an open house last Wednesday at La Verendrye hospital here to celebrate the two groups decision to come together and provide better services for women of all ages.
The open house, which took place at 1 p.m. on the main floor of the hospital, was held to let people know the co-operation and shared expertise of these organizations will ensure quality breast health care will continue to be available to all women in Rainy River District.
“We have a lot of people to thank for all of this coming about,” said Heather Woodbeck, regional administrator for the Northwestern Ontario Breast Screening Program.
“Dr. Nancy Naylor has been involved since the beginning as has Liz Clark, who has been wonderfully supportive and kept us going when we were unsure how we were going to manage.
“We have been so lucky to have so many wonderful people who have helped us along the way,” Woodbeck added.
“We really want women to use this program,” she enthused. “Hopefully we can increase the number of women getting mammographies in Ontario by 35 percent.
“Women need to be educated about how to protect themselves against cancer and early detection is always very important,” she stressed.
With the goal of making sure women know how to check themselves for the disease, and are checked for it, the Riverside Breast Education Clinic and the Ontario Breast Screening Program are hoping to work together to put a stop to the number of women who die each year from breast cancer.
“This program will help in allowing quality breast education to continue,” said Dr. Naylor. “This really all began when some enthusiastic women in 1985 got together and decided that they wanted to get this going.
“I think it is important to thank the [La Verendrye] women’s auxiliary for their ongoing support and for supplying us with the very first mammography machine,” she added. “They are a great group of people to have behind you.”
Through the Ontario Breast Screening Program, women over the age of 50, who have not had a mammogram in the past year, will be able to participate in the breast screening program, which will consist of an educational video, a lesson on how to give a breast self-exam, and a mammography.
For women under the age of 50 who are interested in learning good breast health habits, the Riverside Breast Education Clinic offers a similar breast screening program.
In this program, women will be able to learn how to give themselves a breast self-exam and also will be given an exam by a specially-trained nurse.
After the exam, if it is deemed necessary, a mammography may be recommended for the patient.
Overall, it is the hope of both organizations that through the breast screening programs, they will be better equipped to educate women on how to better care for themselves and improve their breast health habits.
“We have had such enormous support from the public with regards to this venture,” noted Dr. Naylor. “To think of where we started and then to see how far we have come has really been a big thing.
“We are all so very proud of all the work that has gone into this.”
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
