Join Atlantic Health System in asking the women in your life if they have had their annual mammogram. Did you know that being a woman and getting older are the main risk factors for breast cancer? One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. In fact, it remains the second leading cause of cancer death in women.
That’s why breast cancer screening is so critical. Having consistent mammograms is the best way to improve early detection of breast cancer. While that message has been promoted for years, life often gets in the way and people may delay or forget to schedule their annual mammogram. Especially during the last few years, regular appointments have at times taken a backseat. This could be dangerous if it means foregoing an opportunity to detect cancer before it spreads.
Atlantic Health System’s #AskHer Campaign
Breast cancer can truly affect anyone, so Atlantic Health System created #AskHer, a campaign to encourage all of us to reach out to the women in our lives—mothers, sisters, wives, and friends—and urge them to make their appointment for an annual mammogram. For the seventh consecutive year, the campaign introduces conversations about the importance of mammograms and has been a call to action to women locally and nationwide.
Lydia Nadeau, executive director of Atlantic Health System Cancer Care explained, “Our moms, our friends and our colleagues are really important to us and we ask them a lot of questions. But we really never bring into the conversation the question: did you have your mammogram this year? We need to say, you’re really important to me and this is something we should talk about.”
According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), only five to ten percent of breast cancer is hereditary, which means that most women who get breast cancer have no family history. Breast cancer risk increases with age, and the greatest risks for breast cancer are being a woman and getting older. However, when caught in its earliest stage, breast cancer has a survival rate of 99 percent.
Lisa Bash, MD, medical director of The Breast Center at Atlantic Health System’s Chilton Medical Center, said that mammograms are key to screening for breast cancer. Mammograms can detect breast cancer at its earliest stages, before women feel a lump, and when it is most treatable. The mortality from breast cancer has decreased by 30 percent since the start of screening mammography in the 1990s. Getting a screening mammogram annually is a straightforward, safe and inexpensive way for women to be active in their breast health. Early detection translates to better outcomes and ultimately saves lives, so women should schedule a mammogram every year.
Scheduling is Easy
Atlantic Health System is making it even easier for women to schedule a screening mammogram by offering online appointments at 10 locations throughout northern and central New Jersey. A prescription or referral is encouraged but not necessary for an annual routine screening mammogram.
Break Cancer Risk Factors:
Smoking
Being female
Getting older
Family history
Combined hormone therapy
Dense breasts
Being overweight or obese
Drinking alcohol
Schedule Your Annual Mammogram
Being a woman and getting older are the main risk factors for breast cancer, but not the only ones. Knowing your risks, as well as having regular mammograms, can help find breast cancer at an early stage, when treatment is most successful.
Don’t wait, book your mammogram online, or call 844-343-3540.