Students Attend Women's Health Program

From left:Bethany Shine, Mrs. Wyremski, Ms. Vlachos and Liana O'Brien

The Garden City High School senior girls attended the annual Young Women's Health Awareness Program on March 27 in the high school library. This presentation was coordinated by the high school nurse, Mrs. Eileen Wyremski, RN. the educational program focused on breast health and the importance of breast Self Examination (BSE).

The program was opened with introductions by seniors Liana O'Brien and Bethany Shine. This was followed by a comprehensive presentation of "The Young Women's Breast Health Program" by guest speaker, May Vlachos. Ms. Vlachos is from the Maurer Foundation. The Young Women's Breast Health Program is a 40-minute interactive program in which high risk behaviors, nutrition, exercise and Breast Self Examinations are presented.

The Maurer Foundation is focused on delivering instructive programs to encourage health-promoting behaviors. Every day choices are made that influence well-being. These choices may benefit or slightly harm health right now. However, over time, the rewards and consequences of these choices can become significant. Health behaviors formed during adolescence are closely associated with morbidity and morality in adulthood.

Breast cancer is the number one health concern of women in the United States today. Millions of dollars are spent each year to find an early diagnostic test and cure. Until these goals are reached, women need to know what they can do to reduce their risk for disease and the importance of early diagnosis. Research indicates high levels of estrogen are linked to a high risk for developing breast cancer. Controllable risk factors influence the amount of estrogen a person stores in their body. Examples of controllable risk factors are high fat diet, exercise, alcohol use and smoking. Finally, the key to beating breast cancer is finding it early: monthly BSE can make a difference. The earlier a change is found, the higher the rate of survival; when found early, the five-year survival rate is 98%!