VIEW PARK : Cancer Care Lags for Blacks, Doctor Says

Treatment and preventive measures must be more accessible and affordable to black women to help combat breast cancer, a UCLA surgeon says.

Dr. Susan Love said black women are more likely than white women to die of the disease. Breast cancer is the cause of death for one out of 30 black women, compared with a rate of one out of 36 for whites, she said.

Love and others spoke at a hearing convened by state Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles) at Park Hills Community Church. About 70 people, many of them health care professionals and breast cancer survivors, attended.

Love said that women need to know that regular mammograms, which cost about $200, are essential for women older than 50, but are of little use for younger women.

Panelists and attendees said that in addition to a lack of awareness about the disease, many black women cannot afford mammograms and do not have transportation to testing sites.

However, low-cost mammograms will be offered at Faithful Central Missionary Baptist Church in South-Central, starting Dec. 4. Cancer survivors can share their frustrations regularly as members of the Women of Color Breast Cancer Survivor Support Project at Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital.

Information for mammograms at Faithful Central Missionary Baptist Church: (213) 753-2486; Women of Color Breast Cancer Survivor Support Project: (213) 754-2961.