Did you know that 48% of women diagnosed with breast cancer in The Bahamas are under the age of 50? And of that number 20% are under the age of 40? Did you know that 44% of the women diagnosed with breast cancer in The Bahamas are already in the late 3 and even 4 stages?

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and as such Atlantis’ Public Relations Department, under the direction of Director Katie Longley, is once again spearheading a drive to help increase awareness and knowledge regarding the dreaded disease and its effects on Bahamian women.

“This is the third year we’ve taken on this very important initiative of helping to fight breast cancer by spreading awareness through what we call “Wear PINK Fridays,” explains Longley.

“The Bahamas has the highest percentage of hereditary breast cancer in the entire world. It is our hope that our efforts will not only educate our women and even our men about breast cancer and how a positive diagnosis can affect their lives and the lives of their loved ones, but that we also encourage more of our team members at Atlantis – there’s nearly 8,000 of us – to practice preventative measures by adopting and maintaining a healthy lifestyle,” she says.

In support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Public Relations Department is encouraging team members throughout the vast property that is Atlantis to go PINK for each and every Friday in the month of October. According to Longley, several activities are once again planned.

“We want to ensure that our efforts make an impact in a positive way and actually help to bring that much needed awareness and to educate so we can help stop this disease from killing our women.

We will once again be handing out PINK ribbons and factual information, and pushing the message that ‘early detection saves lives,’ encouraging team members to go and get tested, and we’ll also have our props out to teach them how to properly conduct a self-breast examination,” says Longley, adding that as managers of the resort’s all-employee newspaper The Discoverer, the PR team has once again also ensured that the bi-monthly publication dons shades of PINK for the entire month of October.

1 in 4 women with breast cancer in The Bahamas is said to carry a hereditary gene mutation. The average age of women diagnosed with breast cancer in The Bahamas is 42 years old.