30+ Women Participate in Successful Community Free Breast Abnormalities Screening Event.

PHILIPSBURG (DCOMM):--- On Saturday, February 11, the American University of the Caribbean (AUC) School of Medicine in collaboration with the Positive Foundation and the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development, and Labor, hosted a successful free breast screening event in Philipsburg.

The February 11 event was the first of three events this year, with the next events scheduled for March 11 and March 25.

More than a dozen AUC students under the supervision and clinical medicine fellows provided 33 women with general health assessments.

Each assessment also included a free clinical breast examination by Dr. Naira Chobanyan, clinical oncologist, and professor of clinical medicine at AUC.
To date, over 500 women have been examined by Dr. Chobanyan and her team of clinical medicine fellows and students.

For AUC medical students and clinical medicine fellows, the event was an opportunity to work side-by-side with patients while practicing clinical and communication skills.

Students spent much of their time explaining the signs, symptoms, and risk factors of breast cancer, and answering questions about personal breast health and self-care.

In addition to the benefits this research brings to the community of Sint Maarten regarding breast awareness and education, clinical fellows and medical students are afforded an opportunity to gain real-world clinical experience. 

By working with real patients, conducting interviews, and performing an overall health assessment, medical students can enhance their preparedness for clinical rotations.

The breast abnormalities screening project began in 2017 but was placed on a hiatus following Hurricane Irma and the COVID-19 pandemic, was relaunched in September 2022.

The project seeks to increase public awareness of breast cancer while also collecting much-needed data on the prevalence of breast abnormalities in Sint Maarten residents.

The results of the project will be reported to the Ministry of Health to help establish local policies for breast screening.

Females, who have not made use of the opportunity yet are invited to register for their first-time participation in the activity. You are invited to call at AUC phone number 1-721 545-2298 ext.404 2357 or email breastscreeningproject@aucmed.edu to register for March 11th or March 25th, 2023, events.