A new campaign called “Tell Me My Breast Density” has begun, and its goal is to inform politicians in the upcoming elections that breast density notification is a key part of healthcare. Dense breasts are one of the biggest risk factors for breast cancer, and yet in many provinces there are no programs in place to notify women of their breast density. Mammograms miss 50% of cancers in the most dense breasts. This notification program would save lives.
Manitoba health authorities notify only some women when a radiologist determines from a mammogram that they have dense breasts. Breast density information is included in the mammogram results letter ONLY if a woman’s density is over 75%. Women in the 50-75% density category are not told they have dense breasts, because this information is not even recorded. All women need and deserve to be notified!
Not telling women they have dense breasts is akin to not telling them that they have high blood pressure that could cause a heart attack. How can women mitigate a risk they know nothing about?
Manitoba residents are encouraged to let the candidates running for Premier of Manitoba know that women have a right to know their breast density!
Tell your elected officials that you want breast cancer screening programs to notify you about your breast density and what that means! All women should be notified about their breast density and be given information about the four categories of density and why it’s important to know about it.
Take Action
In less than a minute, here’s how you can make a difference. Tell the four candidates running for Premier of Manitoba that women have a right to know their breast density:
- Take a selfie or use any picture of yourself.
- Post it on Twitter and/or Facebook, tag the party leaders and ask them to commit to breast density notification for ALL Manitoba women. Use the hashtag #TellMe or #DisMoi
- Conservative Party Leader Brian Pallister: Twitter: @BrianPallister Facebook: @BrianPallister
- NDP Leader Wab Kinew: Twitter: @WabKinew Facebook: @WabKinew
- Liberal Party Dougald Lamont: Twitter: @DFLamont Facebook: @DougaldOurNewWay
- Green Party Leader James Beddome Twitter:@JamesBeddome Facebook: @GreenJamesBeddome
- Share on your social media, tag your local election candidates and tag @Kaufield on Twitter and @BreastdensitymattersNB on Facebook.
- Ask your friends and family to do the same. There’s power in numbers! Let’s make our voices heard – and our faces visible! – during the 2019 Manitoba election campaign! Alerting women about their breast density will help save lives!
For more information, visit tellmemybreastdensity.ca