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The Bainbridge Rotary Club met for their weekly at the Kirbo Center on Tuesday afternoon. The guest speaker of the day was Dr. Charles Brown, radiologist at Memorial Hospital and Manor, who spoke to the attendees about breast cancer.

After giving the club a brief history of his education, which specialized in breast cancer, Dr. Brown spoke on both the symptoms of and ways to detect breast cancer. According to the statistics he provided, roughly 300,000 new women will be diagnosed with breast cancer every year. He discussed the various factors that can contribute to breast cancer. “The primary risk factor is age,” he said. Other factors that can add risk include obesity, alcohol consumption, various types of contraceptives, and smoking, although he said the increased risk from each of these factors individually is small compared to a person’s overall risk. Ways to decrease the risk, he said, include exercise, breastfeeding, and eating fruits and vegetables; although, like the previously mentioned risk factors, the rate of risk reduction with these methods is fairly low.

“Basically, you just have the risk you have,” Brown said.

He went on to show attendees the various methods used to detect breast cancer, including mammograms and breast MRIs, and what doctors look for in these tests.

After he finished speaking, Dr. Brown concluded by taking questions from the audience.