Women’s College Hospital working towards equity for breast cancer screenings

A new campaign from Women’s College Hospital is working to ensure equitable access to breast cancer screening for all women.

It comes as a study from the American Cancer Society shows Black women are 41 per cent more likely to die of breast cancer than white women despite being less likely to be diagnosed.

Dr. Aisha Lofters, a family physician at Women’s College, said this is likely due to access to breast screenings.

“We know that women who are racialized, who are living low-income, perhaps who are immigrants, who are from certain religions, people who are trans are less likely to access breast screening.”

The hospital’s “Every Breast Matters” campaign is working to bring eight new ultrasound and mammography machines to their Breast Centre that would allow them to see over 1,000 more patients each year.

“The whole point of it is to catch a cancer very, very early before there are any symptoms or even to catch it when it’s a pre-cancer, before it develops into a cancer. And this can make a huge difference in the quality and quantity of someone’s life.”

Dr. Lofters said a breast screening could mean the difference between somebody being diagnosed late and then all the consequences of that, versus being diagnosed early and having a relatively simple procedure and then going on to live the rest of their lives.

She said some of the reasons they attribute to why people don’t get screened has to do with access and education, but the COVID-19 pandemic also played a large role in the last few years.

“Because the system very understandably had to shut down for a period of time, screening was understandably paused. But now we know that we’ve got to catch-up so we need to increase access when it comes to breast screening.”

Dawn Barker-Pierre, a breast cancer survivor, said she attempted to get screened twice when she was 40 and 42, but her physician told her to wait until she was 50 years old to have her first mammogram.

Barker-Pierre said she was diagnosed at the age of 44 after noticing a lump on her breast. She underwent a lumpectomy in 2017 and has since been cancer-free.

“I feel great. I’m feeling confident. I’m happy with what lessons it brought me. I think that it was a blessing in disguise for me personally, because it alerted me to some changes that I needed to make in my life.”

She now works as a patient advocate for The Olive Branch of Hope, trying to lower the age of first screenings below 50 for Black women and working to ensure equitable access to breast cancer screenings.

“Breast cancer screening and mammogram guidelines don’t exactly explicitly consider racial differences in breast cancer prevention and epidemiology, like risk factors and treatment and survival.”

“I find that the health-care system is unfortunately designed to be reactive instead of proactive. So we need to change that,” said Barker-Pierre. “So that’s part of my advocacy and work which pushes for early breast cancer screening for women of African ancestry.”

Barker-Pierre said initiating screening 10 years earlier in Black versus white women can significantly reduce breast cancer mortality and disparities among Black women.

“My advice to women is go with your gut. If you feel like there’s something that you need to do for your health, get it done,” shared Barker-Pierre.

“There’s also the avenue of trusting your doctor. That’s a big one for the Black community. We want to be able to trust our health-care professionals.”

She said they also have to work to address some barriers outside the health-care system that affects access.

“We have barriers in our lifestyle that that create more a more challenging experience and journey with breast cancer. A lot of times it’s a single-parent home, it’s financial challenges and it’s a challenge with transportation, or sometimes you’re working two jobs and just don’t have the time to go to these appointments.”

Barker-Pierre with The Olive Branch of Hope has been working with Women’s College to develop a website for Black woman who have been or are on a breast cancer journey. Dr. Lofters said it will provide tailored information about everything going from prevention to screening, diagnosis, and treatment.

“[It ensures] that women who are out there looking for information have a safe and relevant place that they can come to for that information. So that’s just one way that we’re trying to really make sure again, that every breast is seen and recognized and taken care of,” said Dr. Lofters.