Video Transcription
Tommaso Addona: I’m Dr. Tommaso Addona. I’m the President of the Long Island Plastic Surgical Group. Through the month of October, the goal is to provide education for our patients, the local community. This is an opportunity to supplement what in the past we’ve utilized as in-person summits or breast cancer awareness and education. Where we provide patients with not only the information but also empower our patients, as well as our local community to gain knowledge in the options for breast cancer reconstruction as well as pre and post skincare treatment and also to share some of our survivor stories, our patients that we care for.
The Women’s Health and Cancer Rights Act of 1998 entitles women to seek breast cancer care and have that covered by insurance. Shortly after, we worked on the plastic surgery side to entitle patients to the options for reconstruction, both in mastectomy as well as in partial mastectomy. Friday, also known as Breast Reconstruction Awareness Day, is an opportunity that the American Society of Plastic Surgeons in a conjoined effort with the Plastic Surgery Foundation put out information to educate patients and clinicians as to options for reconstruction. It takes place on the third Wednesday of October every year. However, our goal is to really continue the conversation throughout October and ideally beyond, so that every month is really Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
