Posted: 10/17/2016
Awareness luncheon Oct. 22 offers education, inspiration, screenings
Parkland Health & Hospital System will host the “Come Together for the Cure” breast cancer awareness luncheon in conjunction with Susan G. Komen Dallas County from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 22 at Light of the World Church of Christ, 7408 S. Hampton Rd., Dallas 75232. The event includes breast cancer screenings, workshops and a panel discussion with breast cancer experts, including nationally-recognized breast cancer survivor and advocate Dee Dee Ricks.
An entrepreneur, public health advocate and expert on patient navigation, Ricks is a sought-after inspirational speaker on mending the gap in access to quality healthcare, patient navigation and entrepreneurship. Since diagnosis with breast cancer and the debut of her HBO documentary, “The Education of Dee Dee Ricks,” she has given more than 100 keynote addresses to Fortune 500 companies, foundations and non-profit organizations, both domestically and internationally.
“The Education of Dee Dee Ricks” documents her journey from diagnosis to survivorship and the many challenges and hardships she endured along the way, including learning about low health literacy in underserved communities, becoming deeply passionate to end injustice in healthcare accessibility, and the drive to make patient navigation a household word. Ricks views health as a human right and has committed her life to making people aware of the healthcare resources to which they are entitled.
Women today have a 1 in 8 chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer. Parkland has identified the southern parts of Dallas County, including ZIP codes 75210, 75215, 75216, 75232, 75241 and 75211 as priority areas for outreach, as women living there are statistically more likely to die of breast cancer due to late-stage diagnosis. “Come Together for the Cure” aims to provide screening mammograms and education about breast cancer risk, prevention and treatment for women residing in the south Dallas area.
Other speakers at the noon luncheon will be Rachel Wooldridge, MD, Parkland surgical oncologist and Assistant Professor of Surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center; Nicholas T. Haddock, Parkland plastic surgeon and Assistant Professor of Surgery at UT Southwestern specializing in breast reconstruction; and April Samuels, founder and executive director of Breast Cancer Can Stick It! Foundation, Inc.
Workshops begin at 8 a.m. and will provide education on nutrition to help prevent breast cancer, self-evaluation, genetics and more. Screening mammograms will be provided courtesy of funding through Komen Dallas County. For more information, call 214.266.4398.
Parkland provides screening mammograms, breast cancer education, and case management services to medically underserved women in Dallas County. Parkland’s mobile mammography unit visits its Community Oriented Primary Care health centers regularly. For more information on the mobile mammography unit screening schedule, visit www.parklandhospital.com/mobile_mammography or call 214.266.3300. To learn more about Parkland’s Comprehensive Breast Center, visit www.parklandhospital.com/breast_center. More information about Dee Dee Ricks can be found at www.theeducationofdeedeericks.com/.