African-American and Hispanic women in hundreds of houses of worship across Illinois participated in the 3rd Annual Pin-A-Sister Sunday™, the hallmark event of the Pin-A-Sister™ Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign (women of all faiths were encouraged to participate). This campaign targets uninsured and low-income women to heighten awareness of the severe racial disparities in breast cancer mortality. Despite the fact that African-American women are far less likely to get breast cancer than white women, they are 116% more likely to die from this devastating disease, according to a 2005 study by the Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Task Force. Mortality rates for Hispanic women are similarly high.
“There hasn’t been much change in the breast cancer mortality rate for underserved women since 1980. While there have been many advances in mammography screening, which leads to early detection, a large segment of African-American and Hispanic women in particular are still losing their lives to breast cancer,” said Donna Thompson, CEO of Access Community Health Network. Pin-A-Sister™’s mission is to highlight these unacceptable statistics and encourage women to be proactive in taking care of themselves and each other. We want mothers who were in church this Mother’s Day to be around to celebrate the next Mother’s Day,” said Thompson.
Access Community Health Network launched Pin-A-Sister™ in 2007 in cooperation with Stand Against Cancer, a state-funded collaboration between Illinois’ faith-based, health care and community-based organizations with the mission of reducing disparities in access to cancer screening and treatment.
The campaign has grown exponentially since its inception. With an initial reach of 67,000 women across Chicago, Pin-A-Sister™ went statewide in its second year, reaching 250,000 women in 300 houses of worship across Illinois. The 2009 Pin-A-Sister Sunday™ event reached more than 500,000 women statewide. This was accomplished with broader outreach not only into churches but into different communities: synagogues, mosques, and even a church for the deaf community. Pin-A-Sister™ participation also involved an expanded number of correctional facilities and work with the health officer at the Mexican Consulate with a pinning ceremony that reached hundreds of Hispanic women. The Pin-A-Sister™ campaign also will expand past Mother’s Day, with a health and wellness component that encourages women to incorporate diet and exercise into their daily routines.
Prominent participants in this year’s awareness campaign included Chicago media personalities Merri Dee (Ch. 9), Robin Robinson (Ch. 32), Liz Jimenez (La Ley FM), Hermene Hartman (N’Digo), Mai Martinez (Ch. 2), Pam Morris (WVON), Effie Rolfe (V-103 FM), Judy Garcia (Ch. 9), Melody Spann-Cooper (WVON), Wanda Wells (Ch. 32), Dorothy Tucker (Ch. 2), Valerie Warner (Ch. 9), Darlene Hill (Ch. 32) and Dr. Sandy Goldberg (Ch. 5).
Several elected officials also participated in this year’s campaign, including Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, State Senators Mattie Hunter (3rd Dist.), Kimberly Lightford (4th Dist.), Christine Radogno (41st Dist.) and former State Senator Alice Palmer; State Representatives Esther Golar (6th Dist.), Karen Yarbrough (7th Dist.), Connie Howard (34th Dist.), Toni Berrios (39th Dist.) and Deborah Graham (78th Dist.); Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court Dorothy Brown, Cook County Commissioner Deborah Sims and former Cook County Board President Bobbie Steele. Aldermen Pat Dowell (3rd Ward), Leslie Hairston (5th Ward), Michelle Harris (8th Ward), Toni Foulkes (15th Ward), Virginia Rugai (19th Ward) and Carrie Austin (34th Ward) also joined in this year’s effort.
These prominent Chicago women participated in a multi-faceted public awareness campaign, which included lending their images to a statewide outdoor advertising campaign that included billboards and CTA transit advertising, speaking at houses of worship and correctional facilities, and radio and television public service announcements and interviews. Also supporting this year’s campaign were Rev. Willie Taplin Barrow and Rev. Dr. Mildred Harris, two of the state’s most influential women clergy, and Vera Davis, of the West Side NAACP and wife of Congressman Danny Davis (7th Dist.), as well as Chicago United’s Gloria Castillo.
Connecting Women To The Right Resources
The Stand Against Cancer program, a state-funded program that addresses racial and ethnic disparities in breast cancer awareness and treatment by targeting African-American, Hispanic and low-income and uninsured women throughout the state of Illinois, offers low-cost to free mammograms and Pap smears to eligible participants. Initiated in 2002, the program provides follow-up treatment through the Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program.
United Effort
Since its launch by Access Community Health Network in 2007, Pin-A-Sister™ has had the united support of several major breast cancer advocates and organizations: The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University; The Chicagoland Area Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure®; American Cancer Society; the Illinois Department of Public Health and A Silver Lining Foundation.