Photo Caption: From left: Jan Fisher, President & CEO of Soldiers + Sailors Memorial Hospital; Ron Butler, President & CEO of Laurel Health System; Representative Matt Baker; Dorothy “Dee” Hoffman, seven-year breast cancer survivor and featured Tioga County exhibit participant; and Sandy Cray, fifteen-year breast cancer survivor and Lehigh Valley vice president of the PA Breast Cancer Coalition pose for a photo during the kick off the “67 Women, 67 Counties: Facing Breast Cancer in Pennsylvania” exhibit. The photo exhibit features at least one woman from each of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties and will be on display, free to the public, until Friday, April 16 in the main lobby of Soldiers + Sailors Memorial Hospital.
WELLSBORO, PA—Emotional, inspiring, and hopeful were three of the words used most often to describe the new PA Breast Cancer Coalition exhibit now on display at Soldiers + Sailors Memorial Hospital. “67 Women, 67 Counties: Facing Breast Cancer in Pennsylvania” is a traveling photo exhibit, and the revamped display, featuring more PA women and brand new panels, was unveiled for the first time on Monday, April 5 during an opening reception at Soldiers + Sailors Memorial Hospital. Three women from Tioga County are featured in the exhibit: Dorothy “Dee” Hoffman, Barb Bailey, and Laurie Seip, all of Jackson Township. The photo exhibit will be on display, free to the public, until Friday, April 16 in the main lobby of Soldiers + Sailors Memorial Hospital.
“We’re so very pleased to have the opportunity to partner with the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition and the Department of Health to bring this beautiful exhibit to Tioga Country,” said Jan Fisher during her welcoming address to the audience. “We want to tell the story of the importance of early detection through monthly self breast exams, annual clinical exams, and mammograms for our sisters, our daughters, our mothers, and the women of our community.”
Sandy Cray, a fifteen-year breast cancer survivor and Lehigh Valley vice president of the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition (PBCC), noted that the exhibit has traveled through 100 cities and visited roughly half of the counties in Pennsylvania since its inception in 1994. “One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime,” said Cray. “There are 152,000 women living with breast cancer in Pennsylvania, and every three minutes, another woman is diagnosed. But women are receiving more support and better early detection. More women are surviving this disease and are out in their communities sharing their story—that is what I chose to do.”
At age thirty-six, Cray discovered a lump during self-examination. She had no family history of breast cancer and none of the usual risk factors. “Breast cancer chose me, and I feel it was for a reason. My mission has been to spread the word,” she noted.
Also in attendance was State Representative Matt Baker, who serves as Honorary Chair of Tioga County’s Country Round Up for a Cure, a breast cancer awareness event. He shared some words about his work with Hoffman, co-founder of Country Round Up for a Cure and Tioga County breast cancer survivor. “Dee is a dynamo, full of life and vitality. She is inspirational, vivacious, and has quite a contagious smile—when she ropes you into being a part of something, there is no letting go.”
“I can’t think of a better way to drive home the importance of early detection than pictures like these, of women surrounded by their families,” said Craig Osborn, Director of Radiology at Soldiers + Sailors Memorial Hospital, as he took to the podium to discuss the new technologies the hospital utilizes in the early detection of breast cancer. The hospital recently installed a new digital mammography unit, which provides increased comfort, reduced radiation exposure, and shorter exam times, allowing for more patients to be seen. Unlike film, digital mammograms allow physicians to manipulate image characteristics, improving the ability to view specific areas of the breast using magnification, orientation, brightness, and contrast. The MAMMOMAT® NovationDR from Siemens Medical Solutions captures breast images with a special x-ray detector that converts images into a digital picture that can be displayed immediately on the system's computer monitor. The new workstation features incredibly high resolution five-megapixel monitors.
Soldiers + Sailors Memorial Hospital performs approximately 4,500 mammograms annually and is an ACR-accredited (American College of Radiology) mammography site. Every year, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) inspects Soldiers + Sailors Memorial Hospital’s mammography equipment, records, and quality assurance processes. All of the hospital’s mammographers are ARRT-registered (American Registry of Radiologic Technologists) and continually renew their registration through a series of continuing education and experience requirements. Two board-certified radiologists, Enrico Doganiero, DO, and Leonard Dale II, MD, read all mammograms. In addition to mammography, the hospital also offers specialized breast health services in ultrasound, stereotactic localization and biopsy, and sentinel node imaging / biopsies.
Lastly, Dee Hoffman shared her story of breast cancer survival. As one of three Tioga County women featured in the PBCC photo exhibit, she stated, “I am on a mission, and I have a serious passion for the PA Breast Cancer Coalition.” Like Cray, Hoffman found an abnormality through self-examination during the early stages of the cancer. Her mother passed away at age sixty-three from breast cancer, so she knew she was at risk for being genetically predisposed to the disease. “On June 14, 2002, I was told the most devastating four words any woman can hear—‘you have breast cancer.’” After four levels of chemotherapy and thirty-five radiation treatments, Hoffman is a seven-year survivor. “Hope gives life, and life gives hope. If I had waited until my next scheduled mammogram to find this lump, it would have been too late. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of both self-exams and mammograms.”
The PBCC exhibit is free to the public and will be on display until Friday, April 16 in Soldiers + Sailors Memorial Hospital’s first floor lobby. For more information on the PBCC or the exhibit, visit please call 1-800-377-8828 or visit the website at www.pabreastcancer.org. For more information on the new digital mammography unit or to make an appointment, call (570) 723-0160.