Bras Across Bridgton Hospital scheduled

BRIDGTON — October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. To educate and reinforce throughout the community the importance of scheduling yearly mammograms and doing monthly breast checks, the radiology department will be promoting their Third Annual "Bras Across Bridgton Hospital" which is their month-long effort to raise awareness of breast cancer.

The promotion also serves as an avenue to collect bras to distribute to needy women across the state, country and world.

The hospital has installed a pink clothesline in their main entrance rotunda, ready to accept donated bras for the initiative of displaying as many bras in the area as possible during the month-long effort. Each bra donor can complete a donation card which will hang from the bra and can be "In Honor of," "In Support of” or "In memory of" a loved one.

At the end of the month, all donated bras will be presented to a designated not-for-profit organization including Dress for Success, Safe Voices, Starting Point, Support1000, the Pine Ridge Reservation of South Dakota, and the Bridgton Hospital Guild Thrift Shop. All donor cards will then be entered into an end-of-the-month drawing for several great prizes!

To donate a brand new or like-new freshly laundered bra, simply bring it to Bridgton Hospital or any of the other drop-off locations, including Naples Family Practice, North Bridgton Family Practice, Fryeburg Family Medicine, Beth’s Kitchen, Lake Region Fitness Center, Crystal Lake Spa and Women in Balance.

While the organizers have made the event a fun and visible reminder of breast cancer, the serious reality is that breast cancer is the most common cancer in American women today, aside from skin cancer.

The Bridgton Hospital "Rosina Carlise Mammography Suite" features the digital LORAD Selenia mammography machine, providing exceptional image quality.

The Rosina Carlise Mammography Suite is MQSA (Mammography Quality Standard Act) Certified and ACR (American College of Radiology) Certified and their mammography technologists are certified in mammography.

For questions and further details contact Allyssa Noble, RT (R)(M), staff mammographer, and Jackie Thibeau, RT(R)(M)(CT), medical imaging supervisor, at 647-6095.