Women Rock: Community Spotlight

We're bringing you another COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT in Texoma! This time our focus is something near and dear to our hearts.

We were so excited to visit with WOMEN ROCK and learn about what they do inside their educational bus. It's pink. Their firetruck is also pink. When WOMEN ROCK shows up, you know they've arrived!

They're on a mission to save lives and support women during their journey with this disease. They radiate with dedication and passion about their mission.

WOMEN ROCK has three main focuses: Education, screening & support (both financial and emotional).

EDUCATION:

That big pink bus is part of where the education happens. Inside the privacy of the bus, women learn the right way to conduct a self-exam on their breasts. They can utilize breast models to feel what tumors of different sizes feel like.

WOMEN ROCK provides a shower card that can hang on the shower head as a reminder for how to conduct a thorough exam. The card has a punch out calendar to keep track of monthly self exams.

One interesting model of a breast illustrates the quadrants of the breast where tumors occur, and to what frequency.

It is very eye opening to see the tumor models, which show their exact size. What's even more eye opening is how fast those tumors can grow. The pictures we took just aren't a good substitute for seeing the models in person.

SCREENING:

Encouraging women to get mammograms is the second part of the WOMEN ROCK mission. Early detection saves lives. According to WOMEN ROCK, 98% of breast cancer can be cured when diagnosed early.

Although the recommended age to begin annual mammograms is forty, woman with a family history of breast cancer do not need to wait until they're that age to their doctor about having a mammogram. "Forty is not the magic number for mammograms. Many women being diagnosed are well under the age of 40", explained Janis Fletcher, a 20-year survivor and WOMEN ROCK board member, who gave us a tour of the educational bus.

SUPPORT:

The third part of their mission is providing financial and emotional support to women who are faced with this diagnosis. Women Rock has multiple fundraisers throughout the year, with all donations staying right her to help women locally.

Women who have gone through this experience regularly volunteer with WOMEN ROCK to help other survivors.