January is Cervical Cancer Awareness Month.
At Grand Forks Public Health, they’re marking the occasion by bringing awareness to cervical cancer prevention, highlighting regular screenings and promoting other tools that are available.
Tiffany Boespflug is a nurse, and coordinator for Women’s Way. Women’s Way helps women pay for cancer screenings. She says screenings and vaccines are a great way to prevent cancer.
"Getting your regular pap and HPV test is very important, including your HPV vaccine is also very important. These things are great tools we can utilize to prevent cervical cancer from even affecting people. We're also going to promote paps and HPV vaccines, and we're going to do a Pap-A-Thon. If anyone is due or needing those services, I encourage them to reach out to their health care provider."
She says anyone due for a pap, vaccine or other screening is encouraged to reach out to their provider or Women’s Way, MyAlly Health or Spectra Health to schedule those appointments.
Boespflug says nationwide, 11,000 patients are diagnosed with cervical cancer every year.