Breast Cancer Awareness

October is national Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and many organizations in Havre are showing their support for this movement.

According to cancer.org, this campaign was founded in 1985 to increase awareness of the disease and offer information and support to those affected by this form of cancer as well as to raise funds for research.

One of the main goals of Breast Cancer Awareness Month is to promote mammography as the most effective weapon in the fight against breast cancer. The movement uses pink as its promotion color and encourages individuals to wear that color during the month of October.

Julianne LaSmith, the marketing and public relations coordinator at Northern Montana Hospital said that her facility has been participating in Breast Cancer Awareness Month in many ways. For example, hospital employees are wearing pink today, as they have every Wednesday during the month.

She said that this campaign is a great way to educate others.

"Twenty to 30 years ago, these cancers weren't talked about. So by bringing it to the forefront and putting it into conversations, people do talk about it a bit more."

LaSmith said that individuals are more likely to seek medical attention, if they feel that something is not right with their bodies, when they hear other people talking about their struggles with the cancer, how they found out and how they took care of it.

"That just helps bring it to the forefront of people's minds and conversations," she said.

LaSmith also said that there are a lot of other cancer awareness months, such as for ovarian cancer and testicular cancer.

"Hopefully we will be able to talk about all of those, and it will be on the front of people's minds," she added.