Outreach and education will help save lives of women

By Carole Brand

Published: October 1, 2008

When Dr. Sam Sawyer, Lucille Latham and Judy Crowley sit down to talk about breast cancer education, they are serious, compassionate and very motivated to help save the lives of many women.

“With mammograms and self-exams,” Sawyer said, “and if breast cancer is localized at an early stage, it is 95 percent curable, but the only way you’re going to get that 95 percent is by early detection.”

Sawyer,  medical director of the Coffee County Breast Cancer Forum; Avon Foundation Breast and Cervical Cancer Educator Lucille Latham; and Judy Crowley, director of Coffee County Family Services; are more than passionate about their work. To them, it is personal.

Latham has experienced breast cancer twice. Crowley has recently experienced cancer and says the educational information she received four years ago at the Coffee County Breast Cancer Forum made her not so afraid of what she would experience.

“I believe that so many barriers have been broken down because of the forum,” Crowley said. “Women learn the latest advances in breast cancer drugs, a correct diet, how stress is a factor in a woman’s health and so many other things related to cancer.”

Crowley said the group believes education about breast cancer is the basis for saving lives of more women.
“Sixty-six percent of women we contact that have had a mammogram say outreach and being educated on the subject was why they had a mammogram.”

In its ninth year, the 2008 Coffee County Breast Cancer Forum has more than 400 women registered so far. More names are on a large waiting list, Crowley said.

“We have a huge number of volunteers and the community volunteer effort is great,” she said.

Latham said the forum is attracting people as far away as Northwest Florida and groups in Florida are establishing their own forums by satellite.
“We are so pleased that our forum is not only reaching people in Coffee County, but into Florida as well. We’re actually the only group of our kind from Montgomery on down to the Florida line, but we have reached out far beyond anything we could imagine,” she said.

Latham has been an instrumental part of the breast cancer education program for many years. Beginning in Coffee County, Latham, with the help of partnerships across the area, began going into county jails and prisons in Alabama and then presenting the early detection program in Tutweiler state women’s prison in Wetumpka. On Thursday, Latham will again be traveling to the prison to present a program that she believes has helped save the lives of women in many jails and prisons.

“ We’ve had letters from incarcerated women who say without the help of the free mammogram program, they would have probably died since a small lump was discovered,” Latham said.

A free mammogram is available for women over age 40 who have no insurance and meet certain guidelines.

Sawyer said the free program also pays for biopsies if needed.

“Women who have no insurance need to realize there is something out here free for them that may save their life,” he said. “We need to get the word out that education and early detection is the only key we have right now to saving lives. There are 47 million people who are uninsured and won’t get a mammogram, but there is a way.”

Sawyer said 20 years ago, “we were finding breast cancer with mammograms and today, most cancer is still found with mammograms. Treatments are always changing for cancer, but a chemo drug combination is being studied now to help patients not lose their hair. The things that have just been developed in our lifetime are amazing. We do have a drug called mammosite that allows a partial radiation treatment in five days instead of weeks.”

To learn more about women’s health issues and breast cancer prevention, attend The Coffee County Breast Cancer Forum, which is a free service to the community.

The forum is Tuesday, Oct. 7, from 8:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. at the Enterprise City Schools Service Center for those who have pre-registered.