Walking To Bring Support To Breast Cancer Awareness

Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Oskaloosa square was adorned with pink flags on Friday, as members of the community walked laps to support breast cancer awareness. The walk also serves to raise funds to provide free mammograms to individuals who may not be able to afford one.

Julie Hartke is the Director of Radiology at Mahaska Health, and she took the time to speak with Oskaloosa News about how the walk supports mammograms for women in the community.

The walk has been in place for 15 years. Hartke referenced the 2500 new breast cancer diagnosis that will take place in the state of Iowa over the next year. On the square was 2500 small pink flags representing each of those diagnoses.

Hartke was happy to answer questions from others walking by the square on Friday as to what the pink flags were for.

Planting all of those flags on the square took about 45 minutes, thanks to volunteers from William Penn University.

Hartke says that the application for the free mammogram is available on the Mahaska Health website, or by calling the radiology department at Mahaska Health.

There were a few dozen walkers who made their appearance shorter due to the cold and the wind, and a few more that walked nearly the whole hour from noon to 1 pm.

Hartke says the support for a cure for breast cancer is working. New tools such as gene editing and tools to help victims navigate their way through the recovery from breast cancer. “In the community, we want to be that resource for people. We want to have support groups to help those who are in the disease process. We want to help answer all those health questions, which is why we’ve turned our women’s night into an all health night, not just focused on breast cancer.”

The health night will be on Tuesday night, October 15th, beginning at 5:45 pm at the Gateway Church of the Nazarene.