October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Austin, TX - October 1, 2015 (The Stuff Gazette) -- The American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), the largest national professional membership organization for nurse practitioners of all specialties, together with National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc.® (NBCF), has launched an awareness campaign for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, publicizing the critical importance of early detection tools, namely self-exams, clinical exams and mammograms.

The organizations are conveying these potentially life-saving messages via wall-sized advertisements, which debut this week and next in three major U.S. airports: Chicago O'Hare International, Reagan National in Washington, D.C. and Minneapolis-St. Paul International. The advertisements will reach an audience of more than 330,000 each day, the approximate number of air travelers who pass through these hubs en route to their destination or returning home.

"As the primary care providers of choice for millions of patients nationwide, nurse practitioners play a vital role in ensuring women take advantage of early detection tools that can make an enormous difference in the discovery and treatment of breast cancer," said AANP President Cindy Cooke, DNP, FNP-C, FAANP. "With advanced education and clinical training, plus preparation rooted in the compassionate, patient-centered nursing model, our profession is on the front lines of ensuring patients best understand their breast cancer risk and take the necessary steps to protect themselves from this potentially devastating diagnosis."

"Our mission of Helping Women Now® among those affected by breast cancer directly aligns with the work of nurse practitioners who are true champions for patients in today's health care system," said Janelle Hail, Co-founder and CEO of NBCF. "We're thrilled to be working with the AANP on this extremely important endeavor."

Nurse practitioners play a critical role in health care delivery across the United States. With prior preparation and experience as registered nurses (RNs), plus graduate and often doctoral-level degrees, they provide primary care, as well as acute and specialty care. Nurse practitioners offer many of the same services as physicians, but with a distinct, holistic approach that's been proven effective, as shown by substantial, independent research studies demonstrating excellent outcomes and patient satisfaction.

The American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) is the largest national professional membership organization for nurse practitioners (NPs) of all specialties. It represents the interests of more than 205,000 NPs, including more than 64,000 individual members and 200 organizations, providing a unified networking platform and advocating for their role as providers of high-quality, cost-effective, comprehensive, patient-centered and personalized health care. The organization provides legislative leadership at the local, state and national levels, advancing health policy; promoting excellence in practice, education and research; and establishing standards that best serve NP patients and other health care consumers.