Thank you for helping us raise $15,000.00 to empower women in Windsor -Essex County!
Take the Yoga 4 Hope Survey Here:
The Ontario Breast Screening Program (OBSP) – a program administered by Cancer Care Ontario – provides mammography screening for women at average risk of developing breast cancer aged 50 years and older. Now, women aged 30-69 who are found to be at high risk for developing breast cancer will also have access to OBSP services including annual mammography and breast MRI screening.
Breast thermography is not a replacement for mammography. It is still under evaluation by Health Canada.
Health Canada : “New technologies, such as thermal scanning (thermography), are being evaluated to see if they are safe and effective. Claims that thermography is useful in diagnosing breast cancer have not been proven, and thermography equipment has not been licensed for breast cancer screening in Canada.”
The Proactive Breast Health Program www.ProactiveBreastHealth.com was developed & under the direction of Natasha Zajmalowski, ND (naturopathic doctor)
The Canadian Association of Naturopathic Doctors (CAND) is the national association for qualified naturopathic doctors across Canada. The CAND promotes naturopathic medicine to the public, corporations, insurance companies and the federal government and facilitates communication within the naturopathic profession.
In Canada, the naturopathic medical profession’s infrastructure includes accredited educational institutions, professional licensing, national standards of practice, participation in many federal health committee initiatives, and a commitment to state-of-the-art scientific research.
The Proactive Breast Health program offers the women of Windsor Essex-County a valuable resource for breast health information. It offers information on dietary, environmental, lifestyle and psychological factors that have been shown in the literature to positively impact breast and overall health. The PBH program is offered to women of all ages, including women in their twenties since, breast health should be considered at all stages of life and something we play an active role in maintaining. Workshops in lecture, web-based and printed material are currently being offered. Yoga, stress management and other physical activities are also being incorporated into this program.
Breast thermography is a clinical tool that can be used to measure breast tissue changes in a non-invasive way. It’s limitations include that it is not effective in showing slow-growing tumours and more importantly, in accurately identifying what the cause of the inflammation it captures is caused by. Research has shown that it can detect breast tissue changes 8-10 years prior to tumour development and this where we see its value.
Breast Thermography is offered as an adjunct to regular screening, accessed by self referral, and is not covered under OHIP. There are insurance companies that will cover the cost of the procedure as part of an extended health plan.
- Thermography is cited in the literature as having:
- Over 800 peer-reviewed studies on breast thermography exist in the index medicus literature. In this database, well over 300,000 women have been included as study participants. The numbers of participants in many studies are very large (10,000, 37,000, 60,000, 85,000, etc.) Some of these studies have followed patients for up to 12 years.
- These clinical trials have demonstrated that breast thermography:
- detects the first signs of a cancer up to 10 years before any other procedure can detect it
- significantly augments the long-term survival rates of its recipients by as much as 61%
- when used as part of a multimodal approach (clinical examination + mammography + thermography), will detect 95% of early stage cancers)
Breast Thermography results are however, interpreted by board certified Medical Doctors with specialty training in Thermography. Your doctor here in our community may not acknowledge the results of a thermography study because they may have not been trained in this field to do so. There is a 24 hour call number that your physician can communicate any report findings with for further clarification.
Because of you and the many supporters, Yoga 4 Hope 2011 raised their goal of $15,000.00 so that 100 local women could have access to information and this type of screening. Cost poses a barrier to most who would be interested in this technology and information.
The Pajama Angels have been fundraising in this community and have raised and donated $190,000.00 in the last almost decade to local hospital foundations, hospice and cancer centers locally, including recently, the newly developed: Proactive Breast Health program. Having lost their sister to complications of the disease at a young age of 41 in 2002 and having a mother as a breast cancer victor since 1994 as well as too many family and friends diagnosed and some lost in their inner circle.
Their mission and intention is pure and with integrity. This is not to deny or undermine current accepted standards of care with respect to breast screening but to offer added value in this process.
Practical Breast Health information is always available to everyone free of charge at the website: www.ProactiveBreastHealth.com check the “downloads” tab for some great Proactive Breast Health info ready to print.
Thank you all!
Yogis, Teachers, Emcees, Presenters, Sponsors, Exhibitors, Donors, Anonymous Supporters, Well Wishes, Encouragers, Volunteers, Family & Friends….and even the negative energists, for they help us identify the gaps that exist in the world and makes us try harder to bring us all more closer together.
Namaste.
United We Cure.
Pajama Angels