NEWS

Local angle: Harnett County

CHAPEL HILL -- A yearlong program to improve breast cancer screening services for women with disabilities in Harnett County has begun, thanks to a grant from the Triangle affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

The grant was awarded to the N.C. Office on Disability and Health.

"Women with disabilities share the same or elevated risk factors for breast cancer as women in general, but often have less access to breast health services than any other group," said Pam Dickens, project coordinator.

Activities will include improving the accessibility of mammography and related health-care sites, training providers about disability sensitivity and strategies to promote breast cancer screening and referrals, and increasing the knowledge and comfort of women with developmental disabilities about breast health care and cancer screening, Dickens said.

The aim is to develop a model that can be used by other counties.

"Our Harnett outreach work will run the gamut from such things as helping remove physical barriers in medical facilities to helping teach women how to do a thorough breast self-examination," Dickens said.

The program, funded by a $30,000 grant, began in January and will continue through December.

The N.C. Office on Disability and Health is a partnership between the N.C. Division of Public Health and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with core funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The disability office is administratively based at the FPG Child Development Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill.

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Note: Dickens can be reached at 919-966-0871, dickens@mail.fpg.unc.edu

Web links: www.fpg.unc.edu/~ncodh, http://www.fpg.unc.edu/%7Encodh

FPG contact: Loyd Little, 919-966-0867, loyd_little@unc.edu

News Services contact: Mike McFarland, 919-962-8593, mike_mcfarland@unc.edu