Breast cancer awareness program for teachers on webinars

MINERVA BC NEWMAN

CEBU CITY—City Savings Bank, Inc. (CitySavings) Project Pink: Breast Cancer Awareness Program for Teachers went digital when it held two webinars on March 18 and 26 with more than 500 educators from all over the country joined the discussion in its celebration of National Women’s Month.

According to Paula Ruela, AVP- Reputation and Brand Management Head that Project Pink is one of the bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs specifically designed for public school teachers to raise their level of awareness on the prevention and early detection of breast cancer.

Ruelan said that the webinars proved that despite the current challenges the pandemic has brought about, CitySavings continues its service-oriented CSR initiatives while going above and beyond the Bank’s vision of helping people of moderate means.

“While we have been supporting DepEd through our various CSR initiatives to ensure education continues beyond the classroom walls, another gap that needs to be addressed is our educators’ health and wellness.  More Project Pink webinars are lined up for the rest of the year to promote breast cancer awareness and self-care for teachers,” Ruelan added.

Previously all seminars nationwide were held as on-ground but this year, the event was held online for the first time as a Zoom webinar in partnership with the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. - Eduardo J. Aboitiz Cancer Center (RAFI - EJACC).

The event’s keynote speaker Dr. Amabelle Gerona, an Oncologist based in Cebu City discussed how our teachers can detect, confirm, prevent, and treat breast cancer.  She emphasized that a part of the reason why breast cancer cases are high here in the Philippines is the stigma.

“We want to remove that by educating as many people as possible so that this can be prevented earlier on,” Gerona added as she answered questions from the teachers during the Q&A portion.

 

Ronald de los Reyes, Program Coordinator of RAFI-EJACC spoke about how the organization has been helping Filipinos in the province of Cebu combat the "Big C".

“RAFI - EJACC fosters wellness through its programs in cancer advocacy and education, screening and early detection, and treatment assistance,” he added.

Reyes said that its flagship programs include cervical and breast cancer screening training for rural health units, mass cervical and breast cancer screening, cancer treatment patient assistance, and establishment of cancer patient support groups.

Edna Magsoling, an assistant principal and a breast cancer survivor from Bogo City, Cebu, shared her experience with her fellow teachers.  “With the help of God, and my loved ones who were there for me, I was able to overcome the challenges.”, she said.

Another guest speaker was Mary Ann Sacristan - Bojos, one of the founders of Cebu Pink Paddlers Dragon Boat Team, the first-ever breast cancer survivor dragon boat team in the Philippines whose advocacy is to spread awareness on early detection of breast cancer. She faced discouragement and frustration along the way but managed to pull through.

“There is hope! Kailangan ko bigyan ng chance ang sarili ko dahil binigyan ako ng Panginoon ng pangalawang pagkakataon. (I need to give myself a chance because God gave me a second chance at life.]” Bojos said.

Bojos is now an active member of the iCanServe Foundation’s activities, giving hope to women battling this disease. (Photos: CitySavings)