'Ending Cervical Cancer in our Lifetime'National Lieutenant Governors Association
New Mexico
Denish promotes Women's health - Rio Rancho Observer
SANTA FE — Lt. Gov. Diane D. Denish emphasized the importance of screenings for cervical cancer as a part of a national campaign to end cervical cancer. New Mexico is one of 18 states participating in the National Lieutenant Governor Association’s “Ending Cervical Cancer in Our Lifetime campaign.”
“I joined this national campaign last year to encourage women in New Mexico to protect their health by getting regular screenings for cancer,” Denish said. “The Governor’s Health Solutions plan would give more women access to this kind of important, preventative health care.”
This is the second year that Denish has been a part of the national campaign. Health Secretary Dr. Alfredo Vigil, the Governor’s Women’s Health Advisory Council, Dr. Eric Manske, from La Familia in Santa Fe, the New Mexico Women’s Health Council and the New Mexico Commission on the Status of Women joined Denish on Tuesday to highlight women’s health issues, including cervical cancer, on Women’s Health Day in the Capitol.
“Women’s Health Day empowers women across the state to get healthy by taking action,” Women’s Health Council Executive Director Giovanna Rossi said. “We need to educate women about steps they can take to improve their health such as regular PAP tests and cancer screenings.”
The Department of Health’s Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program provides breast and cervical cancer screening services free of charge to women ages 30 and older, who are living at or below 250 percent of the federal poverty level and are uninsured or underinsured. For more information, call the Department toll-free, 1-877-852-2585.
When women are diagnosed early through pap tests, their chance of surviving five years for local stage cervical cancers is 88 percent. Survival drops sharply — to less than 50 percent — if the cancer has spread by the time it is detected.
Each year in New Mexico, approximately 80 women are diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer and approximately 22 die.