Breast Cancer Coalition to raise awareness through project

The aluminum frame stands 30 feet high.

Soon it will be covered with fabric patches bearing the names of women and take the shape of a pink ribbon -- a symbol for breast cancer awareness.

The Pink Ribbon Display, sponsored by the Breast Cancer Coalition of Nevada and Pennies for Progress, has been developing since April 4 at Macy's in the Boulevard mall, where 6-inch squares are sold and personalized to attach to the frame.

The completed monument will be dedicated May 2 at the east end of Macy's and remain on display for one week.

From there it will move on to other locations and possibly go to Washington.

"I've always wanted a moving monument," Gail Allen, the coalition president, said. "This is moving in more ways than one."

Created to increase awareness about the disease in a visible and emotional way, the monument is also an effort to promote breast cancer advocacy in Southern Nevada.

"This is our coming-out event to let people know we're here," Marla Turner, coalition vice president, said.

The state coalition, formed in 1997, made Nevada the 49th member of the National Breast Cancer Coalition, an advocacy organization working to eradicate breast cancer. Nationally there are more than 50,000 members; locally about 100 people are involved.

Allen, a breast cancer survivor for eight years and host of a radio talk show about cancer on KDWN-AM 720, is hoping to create a larger voice in Nevada.

"The more people who are aware that we are a member organization, the more influence we will gain in joining forces with other states," Allen said.

When changes are made at a federal level, the organization will identify local needs and take them to Carson City, Turner said.

The national coalition, formed in 1991, is the largest and most influential breast cancer lobbying organization in the world, she added.

But building the Pink Ribbon Display is about more than raising awareness, she said. It is also raising money for the coalition's work and creating a personal memorial for victims of breast cancer as the AIDS Quilt does for victims of that disease.

The sections are $15 for individuals, $50 for corporations and $200 for five sections. Personal messages for those who lost their lives or those who survive the disease can be added.

Money raised from the effort will be used as seed money by the local coalition to begin lobbying, Turner said. "The group lobbies hard and fast for dollars in research," she said. "Research is the key. Without research we don't know where we're going."

Through its grass-roots efforts, the national coalition has increased funding for breast cancer research and programs from less than $90 million in 1991 to $595 million in 1998.

The group addresses federal and state issues such as "drive-through mastectomies," in which women were released the same day as their surgery.

Its 1999 legislative priorities include seeking $175 million for a breast cancer research program, legislation prohibiting health insurance and employment discrimination based on genetic information and Medicaid coverage for women diagnosed with breast cancer through the federal Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program.

Every state has money to screen underinsured and uninsured women for breast or cervical cancer, but no money to treat them is a burning issue, Turner said.

The Breast and Cervical Cancer Control and Early Detection Program is federally funded. The local program is called the Women's Health Connection and receives $2.2 million a year for screening.

The coalition is hoping to get Medicaid coverage for breast and cervical cancer treatment so economically disadvantaged women will receive the care.

Efforts are being made locally to ensure treatment, Ihsam Azzam, a gynecologist and program coordinator for the Women's Health Connection, said.

After a year screenings, the center has found cancer in 13 people. Through a network of hospitals, Clark County social workers and the medical advisory board, women diagnosed with breast cancer have been given treatment, he said. One woman rejected treatment because of religious beliefs.

"We have a responsibility to take care of these women," Azzam said. "We will help anyone who needs treatment."

Because not all lumps are cancerous, funds are used to provide follow-up on abnormal findings, he said. The rate of abnormalities is higher in Nevada, because here had not been free screening until this program.

For those that are cancerous, early detection is essential, resulting in more treatment choices, fewer medical complications, a better outcome and lower costs, he said.

"Forty-seven thousand women die nationally each year," he said. "In Nevada, 425. That's three women dying each two days."

"We live in an environment where breasts are important," given the number of women employed as cocktail waitresses and showgirls, Turner said. "But we don't pay attention to breast health as we should."

Coalition representatives will attend the National Breast Cancer Coalition advocacy training conference at the end of May. "From there, we'll take objectives and head to Carson City," Turner said.

From 1993 to 1997, there were nearly 4,000 cases of breast cancer diagnosed in Nevada and more than 1,000 deaths, according to the state's Bureau of Health Planning and Vital Statistics. Nationally, 2.6 million women are living with breast cancer.

"There's a need for a lot more awareness in terms of cancer," Mike Gilmartin, executive director for Pennies for Progress, said. Gilmartin, who lost a brother to leukemia last June, created the idea of the Pink Ribbon Display.

"Advocacy is one of the best ways to go," Gilmartin said. "It gets people out there and gets the message that people need to fight for their dollar in the legislative process.

"It's an epidemic among women," he added. "And people are scared."

Women are afraid to do self-exams, he said, and when a lump is detected, they're afraid to follow up.

Gilmartin hopes the ribbon will get more people talking about the issue, which he said helps put many fears to rest.

"Years ago it was a death sentence," he said. "It wasn't something you talked about. I think when people see what it is, it takes away the stigma. It used to be the 'C' word."

Awareness puts a face on the issue, he said. It also adds comfort to those who have been diagnosed. "A lot of people who have cancer feel very isolated."

"You can do something at the grass-roots level," Gilmartin said. "You can do something by making a square."

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