Kennesaw State’s Health Promotion and Wellness Center held an event Thursday, Oct. 11, to raise awareness about breast cancer and how to reduce risks.
The Peer Health Owls, a student group that focuses on improving the well-being of KSU students through peer health education, taught students how to prevent breast cancer risks at an information table on the first floor of the Carmichael Student Center on the Kennesaw campus.
In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, the students’ table featured a spin wheel with questions, educational flyers and models to teach students how to perform breast exams.
Peer Health Owl Abeer Osman guided students through the process of a breast exam using a model, explaining the common misconceptions many people have about exams. Osman explained what a lump should feel like and that if someone feels something out of the ordinary, they should not wait to see a doctor. Osman also explained that certain lifestyles can put someone at a higher risk.
“People don’t really realize or connect what their habits are doing to their long-term health,” Osman said. “If we all know how to do breast exams, the cancer rates would actually go down a lot, so that’s why we wanted to teach college-aged students how to do exams, what to look for and what not to look for.”
Osman recommended that people perform breast exams once a month.
For Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the National Breast Cancer Foundation is offering a free “Know the Symptoms” guide that provides a checklist of symptoms that is meant to help people get an idea of what to look for when giving themselves a breast exam. Anyone can get access to the guide through the foundation’s website.
“Breast cancer is one of those things that, when it is caught early, it’s easier to remove and it’s not invasive,” Osman said.
