Community again turning pink to encourage breast cancer screenings
NEW PHILADELPHIA (WJER) (Sept. 26, 2022) – The Tuscarawas County commissioners are again lending their support to the community-wide breast cancer awareness campaign known as Paint Tusc Pink.
They were joined by officials from Cleveland Clinic Union Hospital Monday morning to kick off this year’s installment of the campaign that has businesses throughout the county putting up signs and pink decorations each fall. Hospital President Dr. Thomas Rogers says they’re to remind passersby that mammograms save lives.
“So we really celebrate October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month to improve chances for survival if we identify cancers early. It’s also to celebrate people who had breast cancer and are current survivors.”
The commissioners issued a proclamation encouraging residents to participate in the effort that coincides with National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October. Hospital spokesman Darrin Lautenschleger says you can reserve a (free) Paint Tusc Pink sign by calling their Community Relations Department at 330-365-3866.
“This is free to participate in, and you all have seen the signs pop up throughout the community. We’ll see them again. We’ve already started to get some calls.”
He says they also want to hear from workplaces putting up displays so they can take photos to share on the hospital’s social media pages.
“This is probably my favorite month of the year from a community outreach standpoint at the hospital because I get to talk to a lot of people. I get to see people at their businesses and some of the schools and organizations and visit with them. We drop off a sign, take a photo, and it’s good social media, and it continues to raise awareness.”
Seventy-one percent of the women who participated in Tuscarawas County’s latest Community Health Status Assessment reported getting a mammogram within the past two years. Lautenschleger says it was around 50-percent when the hospital’s health and wellness nurses started Paint Tusc Pink more than a decade ago.