The month of October is nationally recognized as Breast Cancer Awareness month and Nicholls is doing its part in spreading knowledge. Kim Webre, a student health nurse at the Health Services office at Nicholls, is teaming with others in promoting breast cancer awareness.

Webre listed a few of the things the Health Services office and the students are doing during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

“Every week in the month of October, we’ve had at least one educational table out,” Webre says. “Sometimes it’s in the Union, sometimes in the Quad. We’ve had three tables so far.”

One week, one of the tables promoted the theme, “I Am the Cure” and had a wheel which people could spin and win prizes by answering breast cancer awareness questions.

Webre shared some of the statistics of breast cancer as well as some of the risk factors linked to the disease.

“One in eight women will get breast cancer. The earlier you’re diagnosed, the better your chance of survival,” Webre says. “There’s a lot of different risk factors involved and not having children is one of them because it’s hormonal, just like the older you are. If you’ve been on birth control pills, that increases your risk also.”

University Health Services offers breast cancer screenings for every female patient who visits the center, regardless of what they are there for. Patients are also taught how to perform a self-exam to raise the possibility of early detection.

To aid in early detection, it is recommended that women receive annual exams in addition to self-exams. It is also highly suggested that all women over 40 have regular mammograms.

University Health Services is involved in Race for the Cure held every year in Peltier Park.

This year, the event occurred on Oct. 18. Food was offered for the attendants and participants as well as games for children.

Pink Sundae Tuesday, Oct 28, will take place in the Bollinger Memorial Student Union and strawberry ice cream will be offered.

On Halloween, an information table sporting the theme, “Don’t Be Haunted by Breast Cancer” will be set up for students in the Quad.

The University Health Services hopes to continue to effectively raise the importance of breast cancer awareness at Nicholls.