‘Shades Of Pink’ Breast Cancer Awareness Event Held At Community Center

Breast Cancer Awareness Month events continued in the township Oct. 18, with the “Shades of Pink” awareness event heldin the township Senior/Community Center in the municipal complex.

This was the 16th year the event was held in Franklin, said Michéle Samarya-Timm, a health specialist with the Somerset County Health Department.

The women and men in attendance heard from several speakers, including Somerset County Freeholder Patricia Walsh; Cynthia Voorhees, chair of the Franklin Township Advisory Board of Health; Dr. Kathleen Toomey, director of the Steeplechase Cancer Center at Robert Wood Johnson University Medical Center Somerset in Somerville, and Frances Palm, COO of Zufall Health.

The Zufall Health van was also parked outside the community center, offering free well-woman exams.

The event is a “celebration of the advances in awareness, and that more and more women are now getting screened and surviving breast cancer,” Samarya-Timm said.

“In addition to celebrating our successes, it’s reminding folks that breast cancer still does exist and that people shouldn’t be afraid to go get screenings,” she said. “Mammograms are more affordable, they’re free for those who have difficulty in accessing it, and that it can pick up a problem when it’s a little problem and incredibly curable, and the advances are allowing women and men who have been diagnosed to live longer and longer.”

“Our advice to folks is don’t hesitate,” she said. “Get your screenings, support those around you and ask the women in your life if they’ve been screened and if not, encourage them and follow up with them to make sure they actually do.”

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