Page 12 - Florida Sentinel 7-27-18

National News
Komen Foundation Launches Initiative To Reduce Breast Cancer Deaths Among Black Women
LA SHANA
This week’s Spotlight feature is La Shana, and she’s eager for her career to get started. She is sure she will be successful, because she’s willing to make the sacrifices and put in the work to reach her goals. La Shana feels she’s prepared for whatever lies ahead in her life, and she thinks she has the maturity to withstand anything. Con- gratulations to La Shana for being this week’s Spotlight feature.
SPOTLIGHT
Cancer has long been a lead- ing killer in the black commu- nity. One in nine African American women in the United States will develop breast cancer during their life- time, according to the Ameri- can Cancer Society. Of those, 42 percent more are likely to die of the disease than white women.
“The disparities are shock- ing,” said Andrew Asato, CEO the local Komen organi- zation.
But there’s little compara- ble at the local level, some- thing the Oregon and Southwest Washington chap- ter of the Susan G. Komen Foundation hopes to change. The group launched an initia- tive this week to collect data about health disparities in the black community to learn how health care providers can re- duce barriers for black women to access support.
They received a grant from the OHSU Knight Cancer In- stitute Community Partner- ship Program to survey the region’s demographics, breast cancer screening habits and barriers to screening and treatment.
The team will be led by An- gela Owusu-Ansah, Ph.D, a professor at Concordia Uni- versity in Portland. It also in- cludes Kelvin Hall, an adjunct professor and doctoral candidate at Concordia,
The team collecting data to inform a multi-year project, spear- headed by Susan G. Komen Oregon & SW Washington, to address breast cancer disparities in Portland’s African American com- munity includes (from left): Cindy Fletcher, Komen’s director of programs; Dr. Angela Owusu-Ansah, professor of doctoral stud- ies at Concordia University; Bridget Jamieson, Komen’s commu- nity programs manager; D. Bora Harris, diversity consultant; and Kelvin Hall, a doctoral candidate and community advocate. (Photo via thelundreport.org).
and D. Bora Harris, a diver- sity consultant.
“As an African American person, I realize the load on people impacted by cancer,” Hall, who has had several fam- ily members die of the disease, said.
“There needs to be support pieces out there, because it falls on the shoulders of just a few family members.”
The team also will look at the social as well as institu- tional obstacles African-Amer- ican women face to health care.
“In addition to health dis- parities within our under- served and underrepresented communities, as African
American women, we have historically been taught to ‘hush’ concerning many things,” Harris said. “This tradition of silence may have negatively impacted several phases of our quality of life in respect to our health.”
Once that data is collected, the nonprofit advocacy group plans to bring a set of recom- mendations to public and pri- vate health care providers, hospitals and community groups to help reduce the rate at which Black Portlanders die from breast cancer.
“It is time to move beyond education and do what we can to encourage action,” Asato said.
Retired Marine To Receive Medal Of Honor 50 Years After Heroics During Vietnam War
A Marine credited with sav- ing the lives of countless mem- bers of his company during one of the bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War will receive the Medal of Honor, thanks to the efforts of a congresswoman and a group of Marines who witnessed his heroics.
Retired Sgt. Maj. John Canley, who lives in the coastal community of Oxnard, California, will receive the na- tion’s highest military honor. An official announcement from the White House is expected once a date for the presenta- tion is confirmed. Canley ini- tially received the Navy Cross, as well as two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart, for his actions overseas.
According to his Navy Cross citation, Canley — then a gun- nery sergeant with 1st Battal- ion, 1st Marines — displayed extraordinary leadership and selflessness during the Battle of Hue in early 1968.
After his company’s com- mander was seriously wounded, Canley sprang into action and immediately took control of his fellow Marines.
JOHN CANLEY
Over the course of the week- long siege, Canley success- fully neutralized enemy combatants and brought in- jured Marines to safety, de- spite sustaining several shrapnel injuries. “Gunnery Sergeant Canley lent words of encouragement to his men,” the citation reads. “And [he] exhorted them to greater ef- forts as they drove the enemy from its fortified emplace- ment.”
John Ligato, one of the Marines who fought alongside Canley in Vietnam, called him “totally fearless.” “You fol- lowed him because he was a
true leader — something you need in life-and-death situa- tions.”
Canley’s road to the Medal of Honor was a long one, re- quiring the intervention of sev- eral dedicated Marines and Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Calif. Ligato and his fellow 1st Battalion Marines spent nearly 15 years pushing for Canley to be recognized with the honor, only to see the effort met with more than 10 rejec- tions.
In 2014, one of the Marines reached out to Brownley, who represents Canley’s dis- trict, and it was with her help that the Department of De- fense offered to review the rec- ommendation to upgrade Canley’s Navy Cross.
“Sergeant Major Canley truly exemplifies the kind of courage and bravery for which this honor is awarded,” Brownley said in a written statement. “He is a true Amer- ican hero and a shining exam- ple of the kind of gallantry and humility that makes our Armed Forces the best military in the world.”
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