Cook County Board President Todd Stroger\'s proposed budget cuts are threatening to cease operation of the Cook County Mobile Mammography Van. Each year this vital community health resource screens thousands of poor and uninsured women living in Cook County for breast cancer. Y-ME Illinois, the local affiliate of the Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization, has witnessed first-hand the positive impact of this initiative. There are two fundamental reasons why the public should care and advocate for this uniquely compassionate health care service: 1) if breast cancer is detected early, the survival rate increases to almost 90 percent and 2) it is more cost effective to provide sophisticated screening services (such as a mammogram) than to pay dramatically higher costs for treatment of the disease in its advanced stages. We, the undersigned, hope that the County Board carefully considers the moral and social impact of a decision to abolish the Traveling Mammography Van program. In this day and age of increasing disparities in the breast cancer mortality rate, it would be a victory to preserve this gift of health for those who would otherwise be unable to afford it and a tragedy if this vital program were no longer available. Working together, we can save a life.

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