SUNY DOWNSTATE JOINS THE FIGHT AGAINST BREAST CANCER
Oct 17, 2007
American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk Set for Sunday, October 21st In Prospect Park
Hope starts in Brooklyn on Sunday, October 21. That’s when thousands of moms, dads, children, grandparents, co-workers, breast cancer survivors, and their loved ones will join the fight against breast cancer by walking in the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk in Brooklyn.
The 3.5-mile non-competitive walk will take place in Prospect Park at the Bandshell located at Prospect Park West at 9th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215. Registration begins at 10:00a.m., the Opening Ceremony begins at 11:00a.m., and the walk will start at 11:15a.m. In 2006, more than 12,000 individuals walked in Prospect Park and raised $750,000.
This year, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, hopes to raise $35,000 to help fight breast cancer.
“I feel that our role in the Healthy Women Partnership has made a big difference in the lives of uninsured women in Brooklyn, who would otherwise not have had their cancers detected and treated in time,” said Maria Yomtov, director of SUNY Downstate’s Center for Health Promotion and Wellness. Making Strides Against Breast Cancer is more than just the name of an event. It describes the progress the American Cancer Society and its dedicated volunteers are making together to defeat this disease and is a great way to get actively involved in the fight.
Since 1993, Making Strides has been the American Cancer Society’s premier event dedicated to raising awareness and dollars in support of breast cancer research, education, advocacy, and patient services. The success of the event has enabled the American Cancer Society to fund more than $323 million for breast cancer research projects since 1972.
Dollars raised at Making Strides also help spread lifesaving breast cancer awareness messages; fund advocacy efforts for screening opportunities for all people; and help to ease the cancer burden for people facing the disease. In 2007, more than 178,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in the US, resulting in more than 40,000 deaths. According to the New York State Department of Health’s State Cancer Registry, an estimated 1,443 women in and around Brooklyn will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year resulting in 369 deaths.
The American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer is a rallying cry for awareness, the venue to remember those who fought and continue to fight breast cancer, and an opportunity for us all to make a difference in the lives of people with breast cancer. It is also a chance to educate women about the importance of early detection and help change the alarming decline in the number of women going for their potentially lifesaving annual mammogram.
In the New York City metropolitan area (which includes the five boroughs, Long Island and Westchester) Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walks will take place at Orchard Beach in the Bronx; Prospect Park in Brooklyn; Jones Beach State Park on Long Island; Central Park in Manhattan; Queens Borough Hall in Queens; Cloves Lake Park on Staten Island; and Manhattanville College in Westchester. Last year, 104,000 walkers in the metropolitan area raised more than $8.1 million for breast cancer research, education, advocacy and services for patients and their families.
This year, there will be more than 110 Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walks taking place throughout the country in October. Last year, 450,000 participants in 120 cities helped to raise more than $40 million for breast cancer research, education, advocacy, and services.
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About SUNY Downstate Medical Center
SUNY Downstate Medical Center, founded in 1860, was the first medical school in the United States to bring teaching out of the lecture hall and to the patient’s bedside. A center of innovation and excellence in research and clinical service delivery, SUNY Downstate Medical Center comprises a College of Medicine, College of Nursing, School of Health Professions, a School of Graduate Studies, School of Public Health, University Hospital of Brooklyn, and a multifaceted biotechnology initiative including the Downstate Biotechnology Incubator and BioBAT for early-stage and more mature companies, respectively.
SUNY Downstate ranks twelfth nationally in the number of alumni who are on the faculty of American medical schools. More physicians practicing in New York City have graduated from SUNY Downstate than from any other medical school.