Good News Clinics is shedding light on Breast Cancer Awareness Month in a unique and creative way.
Staff and even some community members have decorated and displayed about a dozen bras around the medical halls of the clinic on Pine Street.
Each of the bras include a tagline displayed below them. Some examples include a bra with two mini pumpkins glued to the front and the tagline 'Protect your pumpkins', while another features multiple pink balloons with the tagline 'Don't blow your chance to get a mammogram'.
Mary Wall, grants writer for Good News Clinics, said staff originally planned to host a Breast Cancer Awareness walk around the Midtown Greenway, but cancelled the event due to a rise in COVID-19 cases.
Instead, the bra decorating campaign, called 'Save the Tatas' at the clinic, was born.
"They're just fun, they're not elaborate, there's not a lot of expense in the decorating, it was just fun," said Wall.
Wall, who has worked at the clinic several years, said staff started decorating and putting the bras on display around the end of September.
She said the overall goal of the project is to remind female patients at Good News Clinics to be screened regularly for breast cancer.
"Our patients are not able to access services like this from any place else but us," said Wall. "There's a lot of fear and misinformation about mammograms and breast cancer in general, a lot of misinformation about breast awareness, so it's just a fun way for us to remind our patients...it's time to get your mammogram."
Good News Clinics offers clinical breast exams to their patients, according to Wall, but actual mammograms are set up and performed at Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville.
According to Breastcancer.org, one in eight women in the U.S. will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime. Roughly 281,550 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in women in the U.S. this year alone.
A commonly-known symptom of breast cancer is an usual lump in the breast. Wall said other symptoms include breast puckering, discharge from nipples, unusual redness and discomfort.
Information from Cancer.org recommends that women age 45 to 54 should get a mammogram annually. Women age 55 and older can switch to having mammograms every two years.
Wall said the clinical breast exams at Good News Clinics help detect about one case of breast cancer each year.
"All the things are important: clinical breast exams, certainly breast awareness and then mammograms," said Wall. "All three of those pieces go into helping catch breast cancer early. And if it's caught early, there's a very good cure rate."
If you're interested in being a part of the campaign, Wall said staff are still accepting decorated bras through the end of the month. The only requirement is that the bra design must be in good taste.
At some point, all of the designs will be posted on social media for the public to view.
