Tell Me My Breast Density

2020 brought breast density notification to New Brunswick! More to be done though to help women find the breast cancer early. Stay tuned!

Beyond thrilled with the progress in Canada. When COVID began, I never imagined that during a pandemic 2 more provinces would implement breast density notificat...ion and 4 more would commit (and a territory too)! So it's exciting but the advocacy continues on many new fronts because we can do a lot more in Canada to ensure breast cancer is detected early. Thanks for the support and thank you to ronniedale for his patience and understanding! Here's the DBC update: We want to wish everyone a Happy New Year. We’re super excited for 2021 and hoping for a healthy year for all! As we say goodbye to 2020, we're thrilled about the amazing progress on breast density notification in Canada. During the past 5 months, we've seen Alberta and New Brunswick join British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island in notifying women of their density. AND.......we're so excited to announce commitments for 2021 from Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Yukon to inform women of their breast density in the mammogram results letter mailed to them. Quebec has committed to informing women in their health booklet. Way to go CANADA!!!! DBC is volunteer run and from the bottom of our hearts, we thank our village of volunteers for your time and dedication, and for the difference you helped make. This progress in Canada would not have been possible without your help. Expressing our gratitude to: OUR MEDICAL ADVISOR: Dr. Paula Gordon. Thank you for the countless hours you dedicate to advocating for the best screening for Canadian women, raising awareness and educating physicians. OUR ADVOCATES across the country: You are an amazing group of women to work with! Your actions have truly made a difference! Kathy Kaufield, Trisha MacNeill, Annie Slight, Gaynor Hart, Ann Hill, Sharon Olson, Sharon MacNeill, Janet Gallant, Cathy Burke, Cathy Rippin-Sisler, Lori Ryan, Leda Raptis, Joan Bush, Andrea Schade Douglas, Debbie Kerr, Naomi Pickersgill, Feather Wagner, Louise Schoenherr, Barbara Moscovich, Penny Hersh, Sara Towgood, Ellen Grant, Judy Donovan, Pam Hall, Lois Johnson, Cinda Lambert, Joscelyn Baker, Janet Sadel, Marion Kuno, Barbara Storey, Nicki Rivers. OUR CANADIAN BREAST SCREENING EXPERTS: Thank you Dr. Martin Yaffe, Dr. Jean Seely, Dr. Shiela Appavoo, Dr. Charlotte Yong-Hing for your tireless advocacy for optimal screening for Canadian women. OUR VOLUNTEERS: Thank you to the many, many wonderful people who gave us so much time to help with graphics, French translation, website maintenance, PR, government relations, marketing, and video editing. Thank you to Eevin-Leigh Schlamp for all the great social media graphics these past 5 months. Our appreciation to Laura Graham-Prentice for the strategy and comms expertise. OUR STORY TELLERS: Thank you for sharing your experiences of a delayed diagnosis and inspiring our followers. OUR CANADIAN BREAST CANCER ORGANIZATIONS: Thank you for helping us promote breast density awareness and all the work you do to help women with breast cancer. OUR GLOBAL BREAST DENSITY GROUPS: Thank you for your support and all you do in the USA, UK, Ireland and Australia for women's health. OUR FOLLOWERS: Thank YOU for supporting us and sharing our posts and helping women become informed and empowered. OUR HEALTH MINISTERS AND STAFF OF SCREENING PROGRAMS, and CANCER AGENCIES: Thank you for the commitment to notification and women's health. Thanks to those who worked hard on implementation. We're also grateful to the many MPPs, MNA's MLA's and MPs who championed our cause. OUR EXECUTIVE TEAM MEMBERS: Thank you Marlie Oden and Annie Slight for all you have done to help get notification in Canada. Happy New Year and thank you again to everyone!! DBC's Cofounders: Jennie Dale and Michelle Di Tomaso densebreastscanada.ca

And the inequality in access to early detection continues across Canada and so does DBC’s advocacy. In 7 provinces, women in their 40s wanting a mammogram have... to ask their care provider for a requisition. We know some women are not getting a requisition. That is unacceptable and contrary to the intention of Canadian screening guidelines. In 3 provinces (BC, NS, PEI) women can simply self- refer. We believe all women in Canada should be able to self-refer. If you live in one of the 7 provinces where you need a requisition to have a mammogram, you are expected to engage in a shared-decision making process with your care provider, but please remember the final decision is yours. It is based on YOUR values and preferences- not your doctor’s. What kind of values? Here are some examples: -I’m willing to do anything to find breast cancer as early as possible. -I’m not very worried about the chance of a false positive result (a recall for more testing). -I’m willing to accept that I may be treated for something that might never have become a problem if left untreated. -I’m very worried about my chances of getting breast cancer. If your values align with any of these statements and you want a mammogram, your care provider is supposed to discuss with you the risks and benefits of a mammogram. The benefits may be downplayed because care providers in Canada have been given inaccurate information by a task force panel that had no breast cancer experts and used flawed studies that are 50 years old. These 50 year old studies using obsolete technology state that women who have mammograms are 15% less likely to die than those who do not. Current relevant evidence based on numerous studies shows the benefit to be much higher. In fact, a 2014 Canadian study of 3 million women shows that women who have mammograms are 40% less likely to die. Your care provider may bring up risks of mammograms: anxiety you may feel if you are called back for more tests and the risk of being over diagnosed. Please check out our recent posts, which show these risks are overexaggerated. Bottom line: if you want a mammogram based on your values and preferences, it is your choice. Your health, your choice. We'd love to hear your thoughts. Please let us know if you have any questions. Please share.

New Brunswick is following in the lead of other Maritime provinces in deciding to disclose breast density to patients being screened for cancer. CTV Atlantic's Laura Lyall reports.