June English attended Multicultural Day to spread awareness about the preventative importance of breast cancer screenings.

English is a UCLA graduate with a Masters degree in Public Health, plans to spread awareness about the risks, preventative measures, and treatment options with respect to breast cancer. In the United States, about one in every eight women, 12 percent will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of their life. In 2017 alone, over a quarter million women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, according to breastcancer.org.

English has spent the last 19 years educating men and women about breast cancer: who it affects, why it affects them, and how to go about treating breast cancer.

“I went into health education and found out they have a school for public health,” said English. “I thought this would be wonderful, to be able to talk to some of the people I had been working with and give them information.”

English had discussed the disparities between the rates of women getting breast cancer and the mortality rate. She had also stated that despite caucasian women having the highest rate of diagnosis, 132 per 100,000, African American women have the highest mortality rate, 33 deaths per 118 diagnosis.

The reason for disparities like this are factors like income, insurance care, immigrant status, language, cultural beliefs, and area. Living in rural areas leaves many with a lack of local services that provide screenings, increasing the mortality rate.

Other factors that can increase the risk for breast cancer are diet, habits, and second generation American children.

One attendee, Kelly Burke, a 40-year-old Nursing major, explained his thoughts on the presentation.

“I expected to learn something new and different and I did,” said Burke. “I thought it was going to be more scientific, but it was more epidemiological which was great because that’s an area I don’t know much about.”

English urges women ages 50 and up or women who have already gone through menopause to get a mammogram every one to two years. Getting regular screenings are much cheaper than treating breast cancer. English wants women to take their health seriously and and get regular screenings to stop any case of preventable breast cancer.

Ventura County currently leads California in cancer screening rates with 80.2% of women over 40 receiving mammograms.