Every three minutes a woman somewhere in the United States learns she has breast cancer, the second deadliest cancer for women after lung cancer. This year, 182,000 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed and 46,000 women will die, the American Cancer Society estimates.
"Flores y ademas ... un mammograma!", "Flowers and more ... a mammogram," co-sponsored by the SF State La Raza Studies Organization, the Student Health Service, and the University of California at San Francisco's "En Accion Contra el Cancer" project was held Tuesday at CARECEN (Central American Refugee Center) in the Mission district.
This program was set up for SF State's Latina students who are over 40 and without medical insurance. Students could also choose a family member who fits these requirements to participate.
Although the program was aimed at educating the Latina community, they extended their services to all SF State students and all Bay Area women. They began with appointments for 40 women and extended care to any others who showed up on the day of the event.
According to Eva Winer, Student Health Service health educator, the event was designed to introduce the importance of cancer prevention and to promote early detection of breast cancer.
This program is "helping students be change agents in their own communities," Winer said.
A 1992 report by researchers at the University of Southern California, suggests that African American, Hispanic and low-income women are not receiving breast screening or mammograms and their death rate from breast cancer is rising.
Figures from the California Pacific Hospital's Breast Health Center indicate that only one in seven women of screening age in San Francisco are getting mammograms.
According to Maria Milian-Menendez, a research associate for the University of California at San Francisco, the Bay Area has the highest breast cancer rate in the country. For African-American women, she said, San Jose has the highest rate in the country. Research is being done at UCSF to find out why rates are so high in the Bay Area, but no concrete conclusions have been made, Milian-Menendez said.
She added that Latinas have the highest death rate from breast cancer. "Their risk level is low, however, by the time they go in and have an exam, it's too late."
Eldive Monterrosa,40, received her first mammography screening Tuesday. Her son, who is an SF State student, enrolled her in the program. "At first I was wondering what was going to happen, but now I am glad I did it," Monterrosa said.
Monterrosa is from Guatemala, and like many other women her age, has never practiced breast self-examinations. "I really didn't know what it was I was looking for," she said. "Now I know and I can teach my friends. If I can help, I am willing to."
For Latina women, there are several factors that play into not receiving proper breast care. Fear is the main one; fear of the system and fear of the results, she said. Taboos in their culture also may disable them from receiving proper breast care or openly doing breast self-examinations, Milian-Menendez said.
"For many of these women, cancer means death," she said. "And a woman in this age group doesn't talk about her body."
Also, language barriers deter some women in the Latino community from getting proper care. "They generally lack knowledge of the system. And they fear coming alone, that is why they came today with a daughter or a friend," Milian-Menendez said.
Cost is another factor that may stand in their way. Often women having low-income don't have health insurance, Menendez explained. Mammograms can range in price from $65 to $150. The UCSF mobile mammography van offers them at $65. The only requirement is a doctor's approval.
Currently, only five states require that Medicaid cover the full cost of mammography screening, although 44 states do offer carrying coverage.
According to the American Cancer Society, 80 percent of women who develop breast cancer have no risk factors for the disease. There are, however, several widely recognized risk factors worth consideration: age -- about 80 percent of breast cancers are diagnosed in women over age 50; family history -- having a mother or sister with the disease doubles the average woman's risk; early menstruation -- beginning menstruation before the age of 12 heightens the risk; late menopause; and delivering a first child after age thirty, according to Milian-Menendez and Dr. Marilyn Wong, coordinator and staff physician at the Student Health Service.
Because there is no proven means of preventing breast cancer, early detection remains the best weapon. SF States's Student Health Service and Milian-Menendez and the UCSF program are taking advantage of every opportunity to train women to form their own line of defense.
The American Cancer Society recommends that women have their first mammography by age 40, then one every year or two from age 40-49. After age fifty, it is recommended to get one every year.
SF State social work senior, Maria Fernandez, said she hadn't had a breast examination in about thirteen years, just after the birth of her second son, at age 28. Fernandez, now 41, said she probably wouldn't have participated in the event if the Student Health Center hadn't followed up on their initial request. "I wasn't going to come but Eva (Winer) kept calling me," she said.
"I think the education part of this event is good. Without (breast exam education) it would be lost in the main stream and we wouldn't know about it," she said.
Because this program was successful, Wong would like to expand it into other communities such as the Asian, African, and Middle Eastern communities in the Bay Area.
If any of the results from Tuesday's testing come back abnormal, SF State will no longer follow the patient even if they are SF State students because, Wong said, they don't have the proper facilities to care for the patient in the way they need. CARECEN will do all follow-up exams and treatments for those patients, according to Wong.