CitySavings’ Project Pink: Breast cancer awareness for teachers

MANILA, Philippines -  Seeking to impact the lives of public school teachers, City Savings Bank has chosen to zero-in on a serious health issue among women: breast cancer.

The second most common cancer in the Philippines, breast cancer afflicts one in 13 Filipinos.

This is why City Savings launched Project Pink, , which aims to educate and raise awareness on prevention and early detection of breast cancer among women.

“Project Pink is the bank’s way to initiate efforts to look after the welfare of public school teachers. Just like our other initiatives, our goal is to drive change for a better world for future generations” shared CitySavings reputation management head Paula Viegelmann-Ruelan during the pilot run of Project Pink held last Apr. 18 and 19 at RAFI Eduardo Aboitiz Development Studies Center, Cebu City.

Some 125 public school teachers from Central Visayas benefited from the program, a joint initiative of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc.-Eduardo J. Aboitiz Cancer Center with the Department of Education (DepEd) Region 7.

“Cancer is a progressive disease, therefore it is recommended to have it treated as soon as possible. Our goal is for every woman who is diagnosed to survive,” program coordinator Ronald delos Reyes said.

“The older we get, the greater the risk of acquiring breast cancer,” said forum guest speaker, Dr. Janice Kanico. She highlighted that survival is affected by early detection and encouraged the attendees to make time to get themselves screened.

Nora Manubag a breast cancer survivor from Naga City, Cebu shared her battle with the disease and how she overcame it with the help of early detection. “I now live a happy life after the treatment and it has saved me valuable resources”.

“Project Pink helped ease my fears and doubts about breast cancer,” shared Pooc National High School principal Clote Bayarcal during the open forum where attendees raised questions and expressed their thoughts about the disease.

City Savings Bank will continue to create and promote capability-building for beneficiaries through its various education-related initiatives.   Louie Raner