Breast Cancer Awareness Month means Awareness and Advocacy

This is the big one. Scrubin is a committed, long-term supporter of breast cancer research, and we look forward to the day when a cure is found. Just page down through our product lines and you are sure to find that many of our nurses’ scrub sets, tops, pants and lab coats, not to mention accessories, are adorned with themes concerning women and the fight against this disease. The pink ribbon means something to us, and we hope it means a lot to you too.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month has been a cornerstone event in women’s health issues since its founding in 1985. Over the years it has grown in stature and impact. The NFL now decorates its fields and uniforms with pink for the month. Tokyo Tower is lit up in pink every year. The National Race for the Cure, an event begun in Dallas with participation of less than 1,000 people, now has about 1.5 million runners and walkers yearly, spread over 100 cities. The Susan G. Komen 3-day “For the Cure” walk, an event to raise funds to find the cure, takes place in countries the world over. Every year the events and public outreach during October grow, which is good news for those advocating not only for research, but also for self examinations, annual mammograms and other preventive measures.

In fact, the awareness month was originally started to promote mammography to foster earlier detection of the disease. That is still at the core of educating the public: women need to be tested early and often. Mammograms can show pre-cancerous conditions and allow women and their doctors to take appropriate steps from there. Mammograms can detect the cancer in its earliest, localized stages, greatly improving the rates of successful treatment and full recovery. This is a disease that will eventually strike more than one in 10 women, so every edge is necessary in fighting it.

This year, we have some good news to report: The rates for breast cancer have been dropping in the new millennium, after rising for the previous two decades. Clearly smarter health decisions and the rise of awareness on the part of women for early screenings (sign up for a screening reminder here, thanks to the American Cancer Society) and tests have had a big impact. And with improved treatment options, breast cancer has a better survival rate than it once did.         

But this is still a disease that strikes nearly 300,000 women a year in the United States alone. And, more than 40,000 women are expected to die of breast cancer this year in America. That is simply unacceptable. We cannot stop until we find the cure!

The widespread popularity of Breast Cancer Awareness Month means there are more outlets than ever for you to make a difference. So whether its running a marathon, signing up for a fundraising walk or helping out at a women’s health clinic, be sure to do your part to stop breast cancer in its tracks!

Here’s some more info about how you can get involved: http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/breast-cancer-awareness-month

Show your support by wearing Breast Cancer Awareness scrub tops and accessories: http://www.scrubin.com/breast-cancer-awareness