Men in pink promote breast cancer awareness

SOME members of the proposed Soroptimist Club Esperance (SCE) partnered with the Land and Marine Contracting Services Ltd (LMCS), In Cor Tech, Eriu Pain Management and Massy Stores, La Romaine, to raise awareness of breast cancer with a Men in Pink event in San Fernando last Wednesday.

Marilyn Lalla, communications officer of the San Fernando-based club, said: “The purpose of this initiative was to raise eyebrows, interrupt conversations, cause questions and raise awareness in the close-out of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.”

She said part of the vision of the proposed club, which is expected to be chartered on December 9, is to focus more on the rural areas of TT. She said like all other soroptimist clubs, while they all share the same vision, the SCE will be placing more emphasis on women and girls, especially those in rural areas.

“We are trying to build awareness of breast cancer and also a need for greater research on the treatment for it. We also want women to know that it is very important to have regular checks for breast cancer because it is better to treat with it at an early stage than after it is diagnosed.”

On the day of the event, which was by and large a social media promotion awareness campaign, some members of the SCE, all dressed in pink, went to speak with the workers of Massy Stores, who were also all dressed in pink, about breast cancer. After that they joined some ten men from LMCS, In Cor Tech and Eriu at the roundabout outside the store, which was decorated by Edoo’s with pink cut-out ribbons bearing the cancer awareness logo.

Lalla was particularly happy with the event, saying: “We got that support from the men and the attention of the public.”

Dr Catherine Ali of Eriu added: “The reason we went to Massy was that we were targeting businesses with large staff to give greater promotion on social media. We also got a lot of people stopping to get more information on what we were doing, so we were happy about that.”