Stephens County goes all in to Paint the Town Pink

With national Breast Cancer Awareness Month coming to a close, residents can still see signs of support throughout Stephens County, as businesses, individuals and organizations continue the “paint the town pink” effort, displaying pink balloons, wearing pink shirts, shoes and more, and decorating storefronts and office cubicles in pink to spread awareness of breast cancer and its impact on individuals, families and communities.

Although, officially, “Pink Week” was early in the month, the display of pink has carried over to the remainder of the month, and Stephens County went all out to spread awareness of the disease. 

On Tuesday, Oct. 10, Stephens County Hospital hosted the 2nd annual Light The Night event to honor, celebrate and support those who have been impacted by breast cancer. 

During the event, Deb Block shared her story of facing breast cancer as a member of the medical profession, and Michelle Chitwood, radiation manager at Stephens County Hospital, shared breast cancer statistics information. 

Chitwood also sat down and spoke with WNEG about some of the new information made available through research and advocacy for breast cancer patients, and talked about the statistical risk of breast cancer for both women and men.  

She discussed some of the risk factors associated with breast cancer

She also talked about some new legislation regarding certain conditions that can impact the effectiveness of mammograms. 

And she urged people to talk to their elected representatives about passing legislation increasing insurance coverage of follow up testing for breast cancer in some cases.

Sally Simmons, lead mammographer at Stephens County Hospital, also stressed to WNEG News how important both regular self exams, and regular mammograms are.

The life and legacy of Dr. Lionel Meadows was also honored at this event for the part he played in past breast cancer awareness events held by Stephens County Hospital.

For more information about breast cancer, visit the American Cancer Society at cancer.org, the National Breast Cancer Foundation at nationalbreastcancer.org, or the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation at komen.org.