With the start of October comes an important month of the year, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Every year as a nation we recognize this month as the fight against breast cancer and raise support for those who have experienced or lost their lives to this cancer.
According to Aramark Careers, breast cancer in our society today impacts every one in eight women in the United States and 23 million women around the world every year.
To help bring numbers down and promote awareness, Corporate America is doing its part in raising awareness by providing extra support and a new initiative for employees. Newly introduced is the initiative, #EmployersThinkPink. This initiative encourages employers of companies to offer their employees paid time off to get mammograms during the month of October.
This initiative was started with the collaboration of Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C. The firm itself is one of the companies that hopes to encourage early detection of cancer which can be helpful in the fight against breast cancer.
The firm itself was said to be inspired by a longtime employee who battled breast cancer for many years, pushing the company to help out their other employees to raise awareness for the cancer. To honor her heroic fight against breast cancer, Partner Garry Salomon created the #EmployerThinkPink Initiative.
That employees journey with breast cancer began in 2009 with the heartbreaking news of stage 2B Triple Negative Breast Cancer. After rigorous treatments and the support of her fellow employees, family and friends she achieved remission and has been cancer-free since then.
But through this experience the company recognized the importance of regular screenings and that early detection of the cancer can help in the long run. Had she not delayed her screening and gone regularly, the cancer could have been detected earlier and treated earlier and at a more treatable stage than it had been.
Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C. continues to raise awareness for breast cancer and participates in Making Strides events and teaches others to prioritize their own health in their lives.
According to breastcancer.org, in 2024 approximately 310,720 women and 2,800 men will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer.
Making a change when it involves breast cancer takes support and awareness. The more people who know about breast cancer and the signs and symptoms regarding the cancer, the more we can do to advocate for solutions.
In a statement from roi-nj, “Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C. invites all employers to join the #EmployersThinkPink initiative and to become a part of the movement.” It takes support and awareness to become more educated about breast cancer and to help those who may have it. With offering time paid time off for exams, they can help contribute to saving the lives of their employees and make a happier and healthier workplace environment.
rbleich@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of Leeloo The First, Pexels
