Health center and local organization aim to raise cancer awareness

Cancer awareness is an important subject, and New Mexico State University is participating in several different ways in an attempt to get the campus involved.
   

Lori McKee, Student Health Center administrator, said students are not exempt from cancer awareness due to their young age.
   

“Cancer awareness is important to students because, while at home they had their mother to take them to the doctor,” McKee said, “now they have to take accountability for their own health.”
   

McKee and the Student Health Center personnel are a big part of bringing cancer awareness to NMSU. This month is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and the Student Health Center administered 59 free clinical breast exams, McKee said.
   

The Presbyterian Mammography van has also been available to women over age 40 in Las Cruces who are interested in having a mammogram administered, Amanda Gallivan, health educator at the Student Health Center, said.
   

NMSU also hosts the Tough Enough to Wear Pink campaign, which is associated with sporting events. The event promotes cancer awareness and research, said J.T. Skip Prichard of Cowboys for Cancer Research in Las Cruces.
   

Funds raised by the TETWP  campaign go to Cowboys for Cancer Research, a community based organization. Raising awareness and dollars for cancer research is the goal of Cowboys for Cancer Research, Prichard said.
   

“Cancer affects all of us, either directly or through family,” Prichard said.
   

Prichard said NMSU has reached out to the Las Cruces community, and the work and support from the campus community is wonderful. The university is an important branch in the research field, and a lot of research is being done in the biochemistry labs at NMSU, Prichard said.
   

Cowboys for Cancer Research also receives sponsoring from the rodeo club and equestrian team at NMSU. Communities outside of Las Cruces and Doña Ana also help out, Prichard said, and the money raised benefits New Mexico as a whole.
   

Other awareness events, such as the Aggie Healthy Skin event, at which free sunscreen is given, take place every year. 
   

“Younger adults are sometimes more at risk than older people,” Gallivan said.
   

It is important for students to go to these events and screenings because cancer can affect them too. It should not have to happen close to home before students start caring, Gallivan said.
   

For more information, contact the Student Health Center at 646-1512.

Erica Hobbs is a staff writer and can be reached at trunews@nmsu.edu

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