‘Pink’ event commemorates Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Orlando, FL (October 7, 2020) – Orlando Health Cancer Institute – Dr. Phillips, Orlando Health Dr. P. Phillips Hospital, Orange County Sheriff’s Office and Orange County Fire Rescue recently joined forces to host a ‘Pink’ event to commemorate Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The activity, held on Oct. 6 at the Orlando Health Cancer Institute, which is located behind the hospital in the Dr. Phillips area, hoped to achieve the global campaign’s mission of raising awareness of the disease and encouraging women to get their annual mammogram screening.

“Today we’re here to recognize October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month,” said Lindsay Jacques, director of Physician Practices at Orlando Health Cancer Institute. “This October is especially important as many may have neglected their screenings due to COVID-19. 2020 serves as a reminder we’re all in this together, and our choices and actions can protect the most vulnerable.”

According to breastcancer.org, about one in eight U.S. women (about 12%) will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime, and this year, an estimated 276,480 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in women in the U.S., along with 48,530 new cases of non-invasive (in situ) breast cancer.

“We know that if found early and treated, the cure rate is more than 95 percent,” stated Dr. Alka Arora, a medical oncologist with the Orlando Health Cancer Institute. “Together, we can definitely defeat this disease. I recommend that anyone due for their screening to please come out. Let’s catch it, treat it and cure it.”

Additionally, pink-wrapped vehicles from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and Orange County Fire Rescue were part of the early-morning activity. These vehicles, along with many other law enforcement and fire-rescue vehicles across Central Florida, have been wrapped in pink by Orlando Health to raise awareness of the disease throughout the community.

Chief Nancy Brown, Orange County Sheriff’s Office, commented on the significance. “Pink is a favorite color of a lot of people and it draws attention because you’re not used to seeing a pink police car,” Chief Brown said. “It really supports our people in the agency who have struggled with breast cancer or know someone whether it’s a mother, sister, aunt or child. It helps support them as they’ve been touched in such a significant way.”

About Orlando Health:

Orlando Health, headquartered in Orlando, Florida, is a not-for-profit healthcare organization with $6.5 billion of assets under management that serves the southeastern United States. Founded more than 100 years ago, the healthcare system is recognized around the world for its pediatric and adult Level One Trauma program as well as the only state-accredited Level Two Adult and Pediatric Trauma Center in Pinellas County. It is the home of the nation’s largest neonatal intensive care unit under one roof, the only system in the southeast to offer open fetal surgery to repair the most severe forms of spina bifida, the site of an Olympic athlete training facility and operator of one of the largest and highest performing clinically integrated networks in the region. Orlando Health is a statutory teaching system that pioneers life-changing medical research. The 3,200-bed system includes 15 wholly owned hospitals and emergency departments; rehabilitation services, cancer and heart institutes, imaging and laboratory services, wound care centers, physician offices for adults and pediatrics, skilled nursing facilities, an in-patient behavioral health facility, home healthcare services in partnership with LHC Group, and urgent care centers in partnership with CareSpot Urgent Care. Nearly 4,200 physicians, representing more than 80 medical specialties and subspecialties have privileges across the Orlando Health system, which employs nearly 22,000 team members. In FY19, Orlando Health served nearly 150,000 inpatients and nearly 2.7 million outpatients. During that same time period, Orlando Health provided more than $760 million in total value to the communities it serves in the form of charity care, community benefit programs and services, community building activities and more. Additional information can be found at http://www.orlandohealth.com.