HARTFORD, CT – Before introducing a bill to improve breast cancer identification education in Connecticut schools, Senator Gayle Slossberg (D-Milford) thanked Mary Ann Wasil, founder and leader of The Get in Touch Foundation of Milford. Wasil touched the lives of millions of women around the world who are fighting breast cancer. She passed away this month after a lengthy battle with breast cancer.
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“The world has lost a true champion for women’s health,” said Senator Slossberg. “Mary Ann Wasil is an inspiration who helped millions of women stay healthy. With this bill I hope to continue her work, ensuring that every young woman in Connecticut is familiar and comfortable performing self-examinations. We talked about this bill the last time I saw her, and I know she would have been thrilled to see it pass.”
Senate Bill 428 makes several changes to Connecticut education statutes, including requiring that all public school students receive age and developmentally appropriate instruction in performing self-examinations for breast cancer and testicular cancer. Research has shown that students who receive this kind of instruction have a much better understanding of their personal health and cancer risks. Familiarity with self-examinations helps detect the first signs of cancer and achieve early intervention.
The Get In Touch Foundation® is a grassroots non-profit organization located in Milford, CT. The organization’s central program is the Get In Touch Girls’ Program & Daisy Wheel© breast health initiative, educating girls in grades 5-12 on the importance of, and how to do a breast self-exam for life. Numerous schools in Connecticut and around the US have adopted the program and had positive responses from students and school nurses alike. Given the ever increasing rates of breast cancer in the US and the particular growth of this rate among younger and younger women, the need for an educational program to help girls understand and “get in touch” with their breasts for early detection is growing in importance.
Now that Senate Bill 428 has passed in the Senate it will move to the House of Representatives for further legislative consideration.