04 Oct
by Derrick Vander Waal
SIOUX CENTER, IOWA – Promise Community Health Center and the Dordt College volleyball program are uniting to raise awareness about breast cancer during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
SIOUX CENTER, IOWA – Promise Community Health Center and the Dordt College volleyball program are uniting to raise awareness about breast cancer during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
To help us with that cause, we’re encouraging you to post selfie photos, while wearing pink, on Facebook during October for Breast Cancer Awareness Month with the following hashtag in the post: #DCsis2sis.
By doing so, you also will be entered into a drawing for your family to win a free pregame meal with the Dordt volleyball team and admission to the home matches against Dakota Wesleyan on Wednesday, Oct. 26, the official Pink Out evening coordinated jointly by Promise and Dordt volleyball. The family also will receive pink #DCsis2sis T-shirts. The pregame meal will be at 5 p.m. The winner then can attend one or both matches, with the JV match slated for 6 p.m. and the varsity for 7:30 p.m.
Chad Hanson, head volleyball coach for Dordt, hopes people will participate in this challenge.
“Through this October month, we hope to increase awareness about the prevalence of breast cancer and risk factors for it,” Hanson said.
Here’s how the community selfie challenge will work:
- Take a selfie wearing pink.
- Post the selfie on Facebook by 11:59 p.m. Monday, Oct. 24, using #DCsis2sis in the post.
- For each photo posted with the hashtag, you will be entered into the drawing for the free meal with the Dordt volleyball team and admission to the match.
- You will receive double entries into the drawing if you tag and challenge someone else to participate in the post.
Here’s a suggested message for you to copy and paste for that selfie post:
About 1 in 8 (12 percent) of women in the United States will develop breast cancer during their lifetime, according to the American Cancer Society. I’m joining the Dordt College volleyball team and Promise Community Health Center in raising awareness for the cause during Breast Cancer Awareness Month by wearing pink and posting this selfie for the #DCsis2sis challenge. I challenge NAME (tag a Facebook friend) to join me in this challenge! In doing so, you also could get the chance to eat a free pregame meal with the Dordt volleyball team and receive free admission to the Pink Out matches on Oct. 26. To learn more, visit http://promisechcnews.blogspot.com/2016/10/post-pink-dcsis2sis-selfies-to-raise.html.
Or, you can feel free to compose your own personal message, but don’t forget to include the following hashtag in your post: #DCsis2sis.
In addition to the community selfie challenge, a similar campus challenge will be issued to the Dordt College student body.
Coach Hanson is pleased to be partnering again with Promise’s Sister to Sister/Hermana a Hermana program on this effort to raise breast cancer awareness. In addition to awareness and education, the program also offers free mammograms and other screenings to women who are uninsured and under-insured.
“Our Dordt volleyball program has been blessed with the partnership of Promise CHC in the many services and support programs they offer to the community in general and women in particular,” Hanson said.
Even if people don’t participate in the selfie challenge, they are encouraged to come out in pink to the Dordt volleyball matches on Oct. 26 to show their support for the cause.
Promise Community Health Center of Sioux Center is the only Federally Qualified Health Center serving the far northwest corner of Iowa. Promise provides medical, prenatal, dental, vision and behavioral health services. To learn more, visit www.promisechc.org and watch this video.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the United States, except for skin cancers.
- About 1 in 8 (12 percent) of U.S. women will develop invasive breast cancer during their lifetime.
- An estimated 246,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women during the year 2016.
- An estimated 40,450 women will die from breast cancer during 2016.
- Men can get breast cancer, too. An estimated 2,600 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in men and an estimated 440 men will die from breast cancer in 2016.
Source: American Cancer Society
FREE MAMMOGRAMS AVAILABLE:
Early detection is the key for effectively treating and defeating the life-threatening disease of breast cancer.
Promise Community Health Center of Sioux Center can schedule free mammogram screenings for women ages 40-65 who do not have insurance or do not have adequate insurance coverage for the service through its Sister to Sister/Hermana a Hermana program, which is funded through a grant from Susan G. Komen for a Cure Siouxland Affiliate. The grant program also provides funding for free clinical breast exams during well-woman visits. Transportation also will be made available for women who lack the means to travel to these important screenings.
The American Cancer Society makes the following recommendations for women with average risk for breast cancer: Women between the ages of 40-44 should talk to their health provider about when to start mammogram screenings for breast cancer. Women 45-54 years old should get mammograms every year. Women 55 and older should switch to mammograms every other year or have the choice of continuing annual screening.