Breast Cancer Awareness by U. Kapadia

Breast Cancer Awareness by Utsavi Kapadia, MPH ‘18

October was a busy time for SOPHA (Society of Public Health Advocates)!  As health professionals we want to spread awareness about the challenges and diseases people face. We thus decided to organize a breast cancer awareness event in to "bust" breast cancer  myths.We held our event on November 9, 2016 and wore pink to show our support for those who are living with and have died from brest cancer.

Our first speaker was Naomi S. Cunningham who is the Outreach Coordinator for the Sisters United in Health initiative, a project of the Adelphi Breast Cancer Program in collaboration with other non-profit organizations. Naomi and the Sisters team provide one-on-one education, educational workshops, and outreach efforts to raise breast cancer awareness among thousands of women and men on Long Island each year. They work closely with community leaders and agencies and participate in women’s health advocacy efforts at both the state and national levels. Their mission is to educate and empower African American and Hispanic women while providing them with the information, support, and resources necessary for breast cancer early detection. Naomi graduated with Honors from SUNY College at Old Westbury with a B.S. in Health and Society and holds a master’s degree in Community Health Promotion from Adelphi University. 

The second speaker was Angelica M. Medina who is the bilingual outreach coordinator for Sisters United in Health/Hermanas Unidas an la Salud. An initiative based at the Adelphi University Breast Cancer Program.  Their mission is to provide medically under-served women with the information and resources that can empower them to improve their health. Angelica develops and implements outreach activities and strategies that aim to reduce disparities in access to breast cancer screening and early detection. Each year, she provides hundreds of breast health educational presentations as well as referrals for free or low-cost mammograms to women across Long Island. Angelica came to the United States from Colombia when she was 16 years old.  She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Stony Brook University with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, earned a master’s degree in health and behavior studies from Columbia University’s Teachers College and is currently working on a master’s degree in nutrition at Adelphi University. She believes very few things in life can match the feeling of helping someone and feels extremely fortunate that her job allows her to do just that while meeting wonderful women along the way.

Both the speakers explained that women after the age of 35 or 40 should undergo mammography to prevent risk of breast cancer. It is not like that only women can have breast cancer, men are equally susceptible by breast cancer. They explained how they counsel patients and families about the disease and its cure. A myth that people who have a family history of breast cancer are susceptible to it was busted. They give strength to the children whose mothers are suffering from the cancer. If someone is afraid to talk about the disease to their family, they help them to speak about it. We also put some things to sell so that from that money we can donate to the breast cancer patients. What an amazing event!