Next month you’ll see a sea of pink everywhere from the dairy aisle of your favorite grocery store to the uniforms of your favorite sports team.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month takes over every October, and researchers have figured out that the annual campaign has had a real impact on public awareness of the disease in its nearly 40 year history. 

University of Hawaii researchers even concluded the pinking of America every October has lead to “behavioral changes related to cancer prevention.”

That’s the good news. 

But after walking into Garnet Hospital in Harris this month for my own mammogram, a move directly related to my own breast cancer prevention, it struck me that the good news isn’t nearly as good as it could be here in Sullivan County. 

We’re still seeing substantial cancer rates in our neck of the woods, and the numbers are grim. 

According to state health department data, an average of 56 Sullivan County women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year. That may not sound like much, until you consider the fact that Sullivan County’s mortality rate for breast cancer in women is 26.9 per 100,000 women. That’s significantly higher than the national rate of 19.6 per 100,000 women who die from breast cancer each year. 

And it doesn’t take into account any of the dozens of other types of cancer diagnosed here in the county, types for which public health campaigns haven’t been nearly as successful. 

Did you know that November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month?

If you didn’t, you’re hardly alone. The same researchers who called Breast Cancer Awareness Month a success specifically called out efforts to improve public awareness of lung cancer and cited those as substantially less successful. 

As it is around the world, lung cancer is the number one type of cancer diagnosed here in Sullivan County, followed by colorectal, then urinary ... and the list goes on. Overall, there are about 447.4 new cases of cancer diagnosed in our county (per 100,000 residents) each year, again higher than the national average of 403 per 100,000. 

Mammograms are important. Self breast exams are important. 

But so too are colonscopies, PSA tests and a host of other screening tests for other cancers you just don’t hear enough about. 

You won’t see anything about them on your yogurt lid. You won’t notice them on your favorite football player’s socks. 

But they could save your life.