When Tara Soares’ grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer in Canada in the 1970s the first recourse was a double mastectomy. Unfortunately, breast cancer detection was not that great in the 1960s and 1970s, and there is a chance she never had cancer.Today, Mrs Soares is executive director at Bermuda Cancer and Health Centre, on Point Finger Road, in Paget, where staff work with breast cancer detection equipment that is world’s ahead of what was used on her grandmother.Lifestyle’s Jessie Moniz met with Mrs Soares to learn more about her and her work at Bermuda Cancer and Health Centre.Q: In 2009, the US Preventative Services Task Force changed their recommendations for when women should get their first mammogram from 40 to 50-years-old. Their justification was that there weren’t enough women being diagnosed with breast cancer under age fifty to justify exposing them to the radiation experienced during screening. This was quite controversial. What do you think?A: There were certainly a lot of people in the medical field who very much disagreed. Women who had had breast cancer detected in their 40s particularly disagreed. One of the things we have working for us is that now with the latest digital technology, which is what we have here at the Bermuda Cancer and Health Centre, the radiation exposure and discomfort is a lot less. The benefits of beginning a screening programme at age 40 far outweigh any risk from exposure. The American Cancer Society recommends that breast cancer screening begin at age 40 and that women are screened annually until pretty much 75.Q: Has anything changed here because of that? Are fewer women being screened at 40?A: Our screening population here at the centre really has not declined at all since 2009. We see about 55 women coming in for mammograms on a daily basis. Although not well studied, when we look at our black population we do see breast cancers occurring at a younger age in black women. Equally, we also see prostate cancer occurring at a younger age in black men. That is something for us to keep an eye on. The Bermuda National Tumour Registry is now tracking the cancer incidence in Bermuda, and hopefully, we will have some very valuable data coming out of that in a few years.Q: Where can Bermudians get more information about cancer?A: We try to provide broad access so people have access to timely information. We have a lending library of books related to cancer. Last year we launched the cancer information service. That was done in partnership with the Canadian Cancer Society. That means that anyone in Bermuda can call a local number and be connected to a cancer information specialist. The specialist can help them to answer questions around alternative therapies, complimentary therapies, or give them information about the type of cancer they may be dealing with and so forth. The service includes a community service locator. If you wanted to know where to go to get a wig or a headscarf in Bermuda, they would have the database sitting in Canada that they could say right yes, you could go here and they have wigs here. That is part of our charitable mission side to provide support for the community and to really be able to plug members of the community in with the experts who are out there.Q: I notice that the lending library of books about cancer is now downstairs.A: Yes, because a lot of the people who came through our door didn’t even know we had a lending library upstairs we moved it downstairs. It is available to the public during normal working hours. People are welcome to come and take the book out for as long as they need it. There is no charge. Last year, we had a volunteer who came in to work for us. She had undergone treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). She managed to get their booklist and helped us to grow our book capacity here. We have a lending library comparable to MGH. We are pretty pleased about that.Q: With the current economy, what sort of challenges is Bermuda Cancer & Health facing?A: We have never received government funding. We are revenue generating. Our clinical procedures are paid for by insurance for those who are insured. We are regulated by the Bermuda Health Council. They set the diagnostic imaging fees annually. We did see a decrease in fees last year. We have been for the past year and a half seeing more women who have lost their health insurance.Q: So because they don’t have health insurance they don’t get a mammogram?A: No, it is very important to our board of directors and to me, that no one is denied early detection because they can’t pay. We do a charitable donation towards that group of women so they can continue to have access to early cancer detection screening. So last year, our donation was around $130,000 to cover not just the mammograms, but also other services that we provide which insurance was not available to cover the patient. That is pretty significant. And we are expecting an increase in patients without insurance this year, because as everyone says, we still have some time to go through this economic situation.Q: Is your background in nursing?A: No, actually, it is in applied nuclear physics. Radiation physics was my specialty. I started off my career working in a nuclear power plant in Canada. I came to Bermuda 18 years ago, when I married my husband, Douglas Soares. I taught at the Bermuda College for a number of years. Then I worked at Belco and managed their safety and training programme. I went back to teaching for a while and then came to Bermuda Cancer and Health in 2008.Q: Is there any cancer risk for having worked in a nuclear facility?A: Prior to anyone joining the nuclear industry they receive training around the risk association with the fact that their radiation exposure will be higher to than the average member of the public and what that risk translates to in terms of some type of cancer down the years. I must say the nuclear industry in Canada is very highly regulated because they monitor radiation exposure very diligently. They have programmes in place that if someone does get an exposure they are able to remove them from the work environment. They even have strategies for reducing the impact of that radiation.Q: Has working here at Bermuda Cancer and Health changed the way you live your life? Do you exercise more, for example?A: Radiation is a known carcinogen, but exposure to viruses and chemicals and even lifestyle, how stressed and tired you are all the time, and nutrition can have an impact on whether or not you will get certain diseases. I have always tried to live in moderation. It is important to live healthily. Vitamin D is good for us, for example, but sun bathing is not something that I would do or encourage other people to do.Q: Do you have any hobbies?A: I have taken to growing organic vegetables over the past year and a half. It has been an interesting journey. Organic gardening can be challenging with all the creepy crawlies that are out there, but the garden seems to be thriving now. I have some lovely Bermuda onions and cabbages and some green beans growing.For more information about Bermuda Cancer and Health Centre telephone 236-1001. The telephone number for the Cancer Information Service (CIS) is 232-2247. Also, check out their website at www.chc.bm where you can book an appointment, make a donation or even purchase items from their online boutique.