Members of Smilow Cancer Hospital and Yale Cancer Center spent time together on Friday, October 28 on the New Haven Green with members of the Yale Police Department – along with a special, pink-themed Yale Police SUV – to highlight Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Sarah Elizabeth Schellhorn, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology) and Chief Ambulatory Officer at Smilow Cancer Hospital and a breast medical oncologist, Maureen Major Campos, Director of Ambulatory Services at Smilow Cancer Hospital, and Margarita Vargas-Torres, a Community Health Educator with Yale Cancer Center, Smilow Cancer Hospital, and the Yale School of Public Health, were joined by Community Officer Greg Swiantek and Officer Chris Reddington of the Yale Police.
They gathered beside a Yale Police Department SUV specially painted in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and handed out tote bags with informational materials on breast cancer screening and treatment. Officer Swiantek also sported a special pink police patch on his uniform.
Outreach and education efforts like this are important – especially when considering that one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in the U.S., one in three will become metastatic, African American women are 40% more likely to die from breast cancer than White women, and men get breast cancer, too.