Free breast cancer
screening offered

By Helen Altonn
Star-Bulletin

Every three minutes in the United States, a woman will learn she has breast cancer, says the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii.

However, with an "X-ray" picture of the breast, known as a mammogram, cancer can be caught before any physical symptoms are seen or felt, the center points out.

This is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The importance of getting mammograms -- and opportunities to get them free -- are stressed by the state Department of Health, St. Francis Medical Center and Cancer Information Center.

St. Francis said it has 70 open appointments for free mammograms, including a breast exam by a physician and a self-examination teaching lesson.

The hospital program will begin Monday and continue through Oct. 24 for women 40 and older who have no symptoms of breast cancer, no breast implants, no prior personal history of breast cancer and who haven't received a breast screening in the past year. Call 547-6410 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. for information or an appointment.

The Health Department also provides free mammograms and Pap tests to screen for cervical cancer in a federally funded program, "Malama I Ke Ola 'o Na Wahine."

About 1,000 women have received services since the Health Department began the program in July last year with three health care agencies. The program was expanded last March to nine agencies on all islands.

Eight of the women tested have been diagnosed with breast cancer and are being treated. No cervical cancer cases have been detected.

The Health Department program offers the tests to low-income women with little or no health insurance. They can be screened if they are 40 to 64 years old. For information, call the Cancer Information Service of Hawaii, 1-800-4CANCER. (Press 1 for English, then 3 for a local information specialist).

One of every eight American women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime, according to statistics. Cervical cancer is less common, largely because the Pap test detects precancerous changes.

More Hawaii women die from breast cancer than from any other type of cancer, the agencies said. Outreach activities are being expanded to reach women most likely to develop the diseases, they said.

Native Hawaiian and Caucasian women are most likely to develop the two forms of cancer in Hawaii, they said, and Hawaiian and Filipino women are more likely not to survive the diseases.

Program coordinator Doug Kreider said more than 90 percent of these cancers can be cured if caught in the earliest stage. "That's the purpose of the tests we are providing, to fight the cancer early so it can be eliminated, keeping the women of Hawaii alive and keeping families together.

"Any woman can get cancer," Kreider said. "Getting tested regularly will help you beat it."

The Cancer Research Center of Hawaii said 180,000 women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, including 500 Hawaii women.

Many women don't get mammograms because they fear breast cancer may be discovered, or they lack information, health insurance, transportation or child care, the center said.

Consequently, the disease may be detected in a difficult-to-treat advanced stage.

The National Cancer Institute this year is stressing the importance of mammography screening among older women, particularly those 65 and older.

The institute has joined the Health Care Financing Administration to increase awareness of Medicare's expansion to cover annual mammograms.