Meet Denise Namroud, the local champion of South Western Sydney BreastScreen. Ms Namroud was 59 when she attended her local BreastScreen clinic in 2021 for a routine mammogram.
An unusual lesion was detected and a follow-up ultrasound and biopsy at BreastScreen confirmed she had breast cancer.
Five years later, she is grateful to be in remission.
“My experience has reinforced just how important regular breast screening can be,’’ she says now.
“I encourage every woman who is eligible for screening to make that appointment and attend regularly. Don’t put it off. Even when you feel perfectly well, screening can detect changes that you may not be able to see or feel yourself.’’
This Breast Cancer Awareness month, eligible women in South Western Sydney Local Health District are being urged to book a free mammogram, with 53.6 per cent of eligible women overdue for their two-yearly breast screen.
For women aged 50-74, a breast screen every two years through a population-based screening program like BreastScreen NSW is still the best way to detect breast cancer early, before it can be seen or felt.
A recent survey of more than 25,000 BreastScreen NSW clients found more than 40 per cent of women put off having their mammogram because they were too busy.
Another 17 per cent said they delayed screening because they forgot.
The survey asked questions about women’s overall experience, care, comfort and access. It found more than 97 per cent of women would speak highly of BreastScreen NSW, almost all women (99.8 per cent) felt BreastScreen staff were polite and courteous, most women felt at ease with the radiographer (97.9 per cent), and 98.7 per cent of women rated their experience with BreastScreen, from initial contact to receiving their results, as either good or very good.
For more information and to make an appointment at a local BreastScreen NSW clinic or mobile van, call 13 20 50 or book online at www.breastscreen.nsw.gov.au.
