In collaboration with the Positive Foundation and the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labor, AUC recently hosted a second (and final for this semester) free breast screening event in Philipsburg. To date, more than 660 women have received free screenings through the breast abnormalities screening program, which also provides educational information about breast cancer symptoms and risk factors.
Dr. Naira Chobanyan, oncologist and professor of clinical medicine at AUC, led a team of clinical medicine fellows — Drs. Luna Emogene and Pathik Patek — and 25 students to provide free breast screenings under her supervision to over 60 local women, as well as general health assessments, a breast cancer screening questionnaire, and education about recognizing breast abnormalities and cancer risk factors. This information is vital to understanding the prevalence of breast abnormalities within the population of Sint Maarten, and all results will be reported to the Ministry of Public Health to help establish policies for the screening of breast abnormalities and cancer.
A major educational outcome of this project is the application of AUC’s Learners-as-Educators model, which is a unique teaching tool of medical students to cascade medical knowledge from Faculty to Fellows to Medical Students to Community. This project brings breast cancer awareness and education to the community of Sint Maarten while offering clinical fellows and medical students an opportunity to gain real-world clinical experience. By working with real patients, conducting interviews and performing overall health assessments, AUC's medical students are able to enhance their preparedness for clinical rotations. The project will be ongoing in following semesters.