Mission In Action


March Focus:  Men as a Vital Connection between Women & Breast Health Resources

 

A discussion held at a recent Pink Bag Lunch, a round-table networking event designed to open insightful

dialogue among Komen Philadelphia Affiliate Grantees, brought forth some observations that may surprise you. At this particular lunch, the role of men as vital breast health connections for the women in their lives took over the topic of conversation.

 

The foundation of the discussion was two-fold.

  • The common knowledge that men can get breast cancer, yet the disease disproportionately affects women in staggering numbers. This lead to the key question:

  • "So why do we invest the time to educate men about breast cancer?"

 

The Komen Philadelphia Affiliate and our Grantees have been enlightened in answering this question due largely in part to your generosity, which empowers us to learn more about the woman-man dynamic in various ethnic cultures when in comes to breast health care, and healthcare in general. One thing we have learned is that men are often very effective in persuading their female family members to get a mammogram and other breast health care they need.

 

At the Pink Bag Lunch, Jean Marie, an outreach worker for African Family Health Organization in Philadelphia, offered an example of this from the African community, where traditionally the culture dictates that men are responsible for healthcare in their families. In their outreach activities, the African Family Health Organization discovered that being a male outreach worker for breast health in African refugee communities makes conversations easier and more effective because, culturally, men hold the responsibility for healthcare in their families.

 

At this same luncheon, Debbie of Saint Mary Medical Center in Bucks County explained a similar cultural setup among the Middle Eastern and Indian families with which she works. In these cultures, often it is a male member of the family who goes to the doctor's appointment... whether or not he is the one possessing the symptons. This man translates the medical information and serves as the gatekeeper for health information to the female family members.

 

Another grantee, working through Project Salud in Chester County, PA to provide healthcare and health information at worksites in the county, shared this very enlightening story: A male employee at one of her outreach sites received literature from his employer and shortly thereafter contacted the grantee's outreach team regarding his wife who had discovered a lump in her breast. Consequently, the woman was registered in the Pennsylvania breast cancer screening program, HealthyWoman. After a clinical breast exam, diagnostic mammogram and ultrasound, it was revealed the woman had Stage II breast cancer, and she then received a lumpectomy. Currently, she is in treatment, receiving support from the grantee as well as her husband - who very well may have saved her life because he received literature, paid attention to the messages and took action to get her the help she needed

 

The Komen Philadelphia Affiliate has also experienced men acting as valuable breast health promoters in various ethnic communities - especially those served by our annual Latinas United for the Cure, Sisters for the Cure and Asian American Women's Healthcare empowerment events.

 

Conclusion

Although women are more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer, men have a critical role to play in making sure their loved ones get the care they need. Therefore, we cannot discount - and, in fact, must reactive to - the importance of educating men about breast health.

 

We encourage all of you - men and women alike - to please, take what you have learned in our March "Mission in Action" article to your families, friends and colleagues. It may just save a life for a woman you know, and enrich the life of the man who loves her.