The Witness Project® of Nashville/Davidson County
The Witness Project® of Nashville/Davidson County is a culturally competent, community based, breast and cervical cancer education program through which cancer survivors and lay health advisors increase awareness, knowledge, screening, and early detection behaviors in the African American population to reduce the mortality and morbidity from cancer.
Witness Project® programs are presented in churches and community organizations by Witness Role Models (WRMs) and Lay Health Advisors (LHAs). Witness Role Models are African American women who are breast or cervical cancer survivors. Their presence as survivors is seen as a blessing and proof that cancer is not a death sentence. Lay Health Advisors are not cancer survivors themselves, but are women who want to work with the project to organize and publish programs, network with community people, give facts about breast and cervical cancer and available resources, teach breast self-examinations (BSEs) and encourage preventive services (mammograms, clinical breast exams (CBEs), pelvic exams, Pap tests and breast self-exams (BSE).
During a program session, the WRMs witness by talking about their experience with cancer, stressing the importance of early detection and answering questions about their personal experiences, fears and concerns. The educational session addresses the fears and beliefs many women hold about cancer, demonstrates that the diagnosis of cancer is neither a death sentence nor a punishment. Following a session, LHAs teach BSE using breast models.
To support this project, The Witness Project® received a grant from the Greater Nashville Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation to promote breast cancer screening. The Witness Project® in collaboration with the Bridges to Care program will provide mammograms to clients who do not meet the criteria of the Tennessee Breast and Cervical Screening Program through the Tennessee Department of Health, who are uninsured. Specifically, the program will target 150 Davidson County women age forty to sixty-four that are asymptomatic.
For more information about becoming a team member or to schedule a program, please contact our Program Coordinator, Mattie Bates at (615) 340-5680.
In Church, people witness to save souls.
At The Witness Project®, we witness to save lives!