The presence of COVID saw many people forgoing important medical needs over the past year and a half, including cancer screenings.
Cookeville Regional Medical Center Imaging Medical Director Dr. Donnie Huff said that despite CRMC having the capability to provide such services, many people felt unsafe in a hospital environment. He said that early screenings, especially in light of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, can be the difference between life and death.
“There are very few episodes of care in what I do that are more beneficial to a woman than finding breast cancer at an early stage,” Huff said. “Which means treatment can be definitive and curative.”
Huff said that he thinks it’s easy for people to forego this important screening especially when feeling healthy. He said that in looking at statistics, one in eight women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year.
Huff said that those kinds of numbers point to almost everyone knowing someone who has been touched by breast cancer. He said that it’s for that reason, finding cancer early and treating it early is what it’s all about.
“People hear numbers all of the time,” Huff said. “But to put it into perspective, there’s about 255,000 new cases of breast cancer diagnosed in America each year. And about 42,000 women die from breast cancer each year. I think the most striking numbers when I try to boil it down, because those are big numbers and it’s very impersonal. The best way to kind of drive the point home to people is that one out of eight women. Everybody knows eight women.”
Huff said he advises women to get a good idea of a baseline for their breast health through a monthly self-breast exam. He said that warning signs for something amiss include nipple discharge, nipple retraction, lumps, discoloration, or swelling.
Huff said that typically, professionals suggest annual mammograms starting at age 40, unless there is a family history. He said that in that case, they go by a ten-year rule.
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