Joe Uecker

State Representative

10/15/07

October is breast cancer awareness month.

It might come today, or even tomorrow. It might have already happened.  You may have gotten the phone call from a friend or relative that they have just been diagnosed with breast cancer. You might even have gotten that call from your doctor.  With over 8,200 Ohio women each year being diagnosed with this disease, it’s hard to find a family that has not been shocked with this phone call.  I was with my wife when she received her call from the doctor.  Like many others, it was a very difficult day for our family.

Early detection through regular mammograms and examinations often results in finding breast cancer at earlier stages when treatments are more likely to be successful.  With nearly 2,000 women who will lose their battle to this disease this year, we have to do all we can to educate and promote early and routine exams.  If caught in the early stages, the survival rate can be as high as 90 percent.  If not, it could drop to as low as 26 percent. 

Many Ohio women do not have access to the screenings or they have inadequate healthcare coverage.  Because of this, many patients are being diagnosed in the later stages of the disease when medical costs are much higher and come with significantly lower results.

The Ohio Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Project (BCCP) can often help women gain access to these life-saving screenings such as mammograms, Pap tests, office visits and other laboratory procedures.  This project offers no-cost screening and diagnostic services to those who are under-insured or un-insured and to those who have low incomes.  These services are provided through a network of over 900 primary care physicians and specialists.

For the first time, the Ohio Legislature dedicated $2.5 million a year in the state budget to this program in order to double the number of eligible women who can be screened through the program.  This was a vote that I was proud to give.  Maybe, through this program, we can save additional lives and make that 90 percent survival rate even higher.

The American Cancer Society states that “Screening and early detection are critical for decreasing the mortality rates of breast and cervical cancer.”  If you are eligible, please consider taking advantage of this no-cost program.  Even if you are not eligible, protect your health during the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month by scheduling a screening. To find out if you are eligible for the free screenings, call 1-888-PAP-MAMM.

By the way, Patti is doing great.  Because of early detection, she is a survivor.

For those who have any thoughts on the matter, please feel free to either call me or send me an email with your comments.  I’d love to hear from you. Simply call me at my office at (614-466-8134) or write me an email (Joe@JoeUecker.com). 

Joe Uecker

State Representative

Ohio’s 66 District

Representing Batavia, Goshen, Miami and Union Townships as well as the Cities of Loveland and Milford and the Villages of Batavia and Amelia. 

Columbus Phone: 614-466-8134

Local Phone: 513-532-0912

Email:   Joe@JoeUecker.com

Website: http://JoeUecker.com