CRMC Foundation Working With Cookeville PD To Increase Breast Cancer Awareness

The Cookeville Regional Charitable Foundation is partnering with the Cookeville Police Department to raise awareness and funds for the Pink Ribbon Program throughout October.

The police department and Foundation offices are accepting donations for the program, with donations of $20 or more earning donors a pink Cookeville police patch for breast cancer awareness. Foundation Executive Director John Bell said that the police department contacted the Foundation with the desire to do something special for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

“It’s unfortunately very common for breast cancer to affect someone,” Bell said. “And the police department is no different, so they had some folks with kind of a personal story with breast cancer and it was important to them, so they came up with this patch idea and they just wanted to test the waters this year.”

Bell said the number of women who went without the recommended annual mammogram throughout the pandemic increased. He said the Upper Cumberland’s outlying counties have seen a particularly steep decline in women able to afford the procedure.

“We know that early detection is still incredibly important for finding breast cancer in its early stages when it’s much easier to treat and survivorship is at a higher rate,” Bell said.

Bell said the fundraiser helps the program that provides year-round financial support for women who are not able to afford mammograms themselves.

“When they can’t afford those high co-pays or out-of-pocket expenses, that’s when the Pink Ribbon fund will kick in and pay a charity rate to make sure that they can still access that at no expense,” Bell said.