WOODBURY, Connecticut, Sept. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — Are You Dense, Inc., global nonprofit breast health organization, in collaboration with Madre Latina Inc., announces educational breast health resources in Spanish named E.M.P.O.W.E.R.E.D. – Early Matters: Providing Opportunities With Educational Resources for Early Detection. Along with educational literature (http://bit.ly/2c3WJ0Z), a video, with English Captions, urging women to be smart about breast cancer screening options, including knowledge of their breast density for optimum breast health, is featured. A survivor’s poignant story, a call to breast health action from a Latina leader and a physician, frame the compelling short video.
Video – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9oiJbKVdLY
Yoellie Iglesias, director of Madre Latina Inc., reports, “The video is empowering, giving women the ability to be ambassadors of our breast health.” Obstetrician/gynecologist Claudia Grogean, M.D., concurs, “This video is a welcomed educational resource for my Hispanic and Latina patients and women across the globe.”
Nancy M. Cappello, Ph.D., founder and director of nonprofits, Are You Dense, Inc. (http://www.AreYouDense.org) and Are You Dense Advocacy, Inc., (http://www.AreYouDenseAdvocacy.org) also a video contributor, explains that dense breast tissue hides cancerous tumors on mammogram, making cancer difficult to detect until much further along. “Our mission is clear, first, ensuring that no woman suffers the tragedy of a preventable late-stage diagnosis and second, eliminating barriers to adjunct screening, such as ultrasound and MRI. We are especially grateful to the Connecticut Community Foundation for funding this targeted outreach effort.”
American Cancer Society reports (http://bit.ly/2c3UpHu) breast cancer as the leading cause of cancer deaths in Hispanic/Latina women as they are more likely to be diagnosed with advanced disease compared to white non-Hispanic population. A preliminary study by Beth A. Jones, Ph.D., MPH director, Smilow Screening & Prevention Program, assistant director Diversity/Health Equity, Yale Cancer Center and a collaborator on the EMPOWERED project, furthered these findings in Connecticut by examining mammography screening and understanding of dense breast tissue in this population. “I am gratified that our research motivated the launching of the EMPOWERED program for this population,” adds Jones.
Dr. Cappello and the Board of Directors of Are You Dense, Inc. are active participants in improving breast health in their community, supporting local breast centers/hospitals with funds for adjunct screening for underserved women. Motivated by Cappello’s late-stage cancer diagnosis, invisible by mammogram, Connecticut became the first state in the nation to enact density reporting legislation; twenty-eight states have since passed laws as well.
