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Health Officials Call For Yearly Mammograms

It’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  

  Public health officials are urging women over the age of 50 to get an annual mammogram.  Vilas County Public Health Nurse Pam Pederson says the breast x-ray can help catch early signs of cancer.

“Breast cancer if detected early is very treatable. If they do these yearly exams, chances are we’re gonna catch it in a early stage, and be able to treat it and save lives.”

Pederson says two out of five Wisconsin women over age 50 did not get their annual mammogram last year.  Pederson says numbers from the American Cancer Society indicate that’s a problem.

“If women over 50 followed the guidelines, they say that the number of deaths could be reduced by 30 percent.”

Pederson says for younger women, annual exams are important, as are monthly self exams.  State numbers say in a recent four-year period there were almost 150 cases of breast cancer in Vilas County alone.  

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