MEMPHIS, Tenn. (localmemphis.com) – October 1st kicks off Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and to bring awareness to the disease, organizations joined together Tuesday for the Memphis Breast Cancer Consortium.
The consortium is designed to celebrate breast cancer survivors, theircare givers, and providers, while sharing valuable information and resources.
In Shelby County, only 60% of women ages 40 to 64 are gettingrecommended mammograms, but the county has a higher breast cancer mortalityrate than the national average.
“Mammograms save lives. Women must get out, get thosemammograms, so they’ll know and get diagnosed early because early detection hasa better outcome,” says Carla Baker, Project Director of the Memphis BreastCancer Consortium.
Organizers say the reasons the county has a higherrate of mortality is because of fear and lack of knowledge.
The consortium is planning more events and activities the rest of the month to bring awareness to breast cancer.