St. Mark’s Hospital’s ribbon-tying event kicks off National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Imaging director Jill Pitre hangs a ribbon outside of St. Mark’s Hospital in Millcreek on Thursday. Since 1994, St. Mark’s Hospital employees, patients and family members have honored women and their breast cancer journeys with an annual ribbon-tying event each year on Oct. 1 to kick off National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. A recently published study found weekly diagnoses of breast cancer dropped by more than 50% at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, an indication that people weren’t getting their mammograms. St. Mark’s saw a similar trend in its mammogram volumes (819 in February compared to 73 in April), which have since rebounded. The hospital hopes to continue that positive momentum during the month. About 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime and, on average, a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer every 2 minutes in the United States, according to the hospital. It is estimated that in 2020, approximately 30% of all new cancer diagnoses in women will be breast cancer.

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