October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. In order to help promote women’s health and to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the ladies of COTA’s regular ZUMBA GOLD class held a Pink Ladies Party featuring pink workout gear, pink ribbons, pink hats, pink pom-poms and even Pink Lady apples for morning tea.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer suffered by female Territorians and the best chance of surviving the disease is finding breast cancer early.

It’s recommended that women aged 50–74 years have a screening mammogram every two years as this is the age group in which the benefit of mammography screening has been shown to be the greatest. For women aged 75 years or older, free screening mammograms every two years are also offered. Whether you attend will depend on your general health, whether you have any other diseases or conditions, and your preference. You should talk to your doctor about whether mammography screening is suitable for you.

To make an appointment for a free screening mammogram, call BreastScreen Australia on 13 20 50 for the cost of a local call anywhere in Australia.

By holding regular ZUMBA Gold classes on Friday mornings at Spillett House, COTA NT is actively supporting women’s health and fitness initiatives in the community. ZUMBA Gold instructor Ann McNamara has been instructing classes at COTA NT for the last six months and says, “Everyone – men and women, fit or unfit, co-ordinated or unco-ordinated can join in – all the favourite Zumba moves are modified to suit people over 50. The classes are designed to keep people moving whilst having fun at the same time. I love instructing classes at COTA NT and encourage everyone to come along and join the fun.”