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General Satisfaction and Concerns of the Participants
The open-ended comments provided insight into the concerns and responses of the women attending the conference. The comments were overwhelmingly positive, with many respondents indicating that they wished there would be more of the same, i.e. educational programs on breast cancer and other health issues.
Comments like the following, typified the many satisfied attendees:
Thank you for providing this forum. This was an evening well spent!
Continue your good work.
Thank you for a very informative and excellent conference.
Thank you for an outstanding program. The dinner was delicious, the
speakers were most informative and the panel was diverse and professional.
Very well planned and executed!
Keep up your great work. Don’t stop plugging away.
Comments like the following suggested that the attendees felt that public education was most valuable and they would like to see more of the same. A few suggested that more efforts needed to be made to reach underserved groups in the county:
Need more programs like this at regular intervals for constant awareness.
More evenings like this.
Need more. I didn’t know how high our prevalence is.
More education, more effort to reach underserved populations.
A great need for education. If I had known what to look for, I would have had an earlier diagnosis.
Women also expressed some concerns about the fact that despite the latest medical, genetic, and treatment advances, still there was little information about environmental risks and how to protect themselves.
Need more information to the pubic regarding cancer clusters, risk factors, and the availability of low cost screenings.
Give women the knowledge to deal with environmental factors and diet.
We need to explore our local environment in Rockland to see why Rockland has such a high percentage of breast cancer cases.
More studies into use of pesticides which were widely used in Rockland County up until about 10 years ago.
Similarly, women expressed concerns about the health care system and its unresponsiveness to the special needs of women, as well as concerns about simple access to health care services. Some of the comments suggest that women’s experiences with health care providers has been less than ideal.
Universal, affordable mammography
Doctors are too busy to do a good job, or to take women’s health concerns seriously.
Need continuity in the technique of a good mammography and in the interpretation of the x-ray as it is read.
Pursue alternatives for treatment for breast cancer to avoid chemotherapy.
To develop one centralized excellent medical facility with research and up to date information.
A mammography center that guaranteed a full report to the patient before she leaves the office.
Return to Breast Cancer Conference Index
First Created: September 18,1997
Last Updated: September 18,1997