In recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority (NRHA) has made it a priority to ensure organization staff, and residents, have access to screenings and other health information throughout the month of October.
As part of the organization’s annual open enrollment period, the NRHA Employee Engagement and Recognition Committee (EERC) organized a health fair that included blood pressure screenings, healthy food vendors and information about preventing and identifying breast cancer, the most common cancer diagnosed among women in the United States.
Also scheduled for this month are two additional breast cancer related events in NRHA communities. On Oct. 23 in Calvert Square, an awareness event is scheduled for 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the neighborhood’s Envision Center. It is open to the community and will include guest speakers from the American Cancer Society, giveaways and local health care resources. On Oct. 24 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Sentara mammography bus will be parked at the Diggs Town Boys and Girls Club offering 3D mammogram screenings. Also planned for the day are blood pressure and A1C testing, as well as information dissemination about Medicaid and other social services. Lunch is being provided, and pre-registration is required by calling 757-785-4138.
Providing wellness opportunities for staff and NRHA residents is equally important and essential to a healthy organization, NRHA officials said.
“From the inside out, we need to be promoting wellness,” said Corey Brooks, the NRHA community relations manager. “To have resources such as speakers to present their stories about the effects of breast cancer and having the mammogram bus and other health screenings in accessible locations is a wonderful, worthwhile service.”
Added Shinita Pressley, an NRHA asset manager: “It’s so important that NRHA continues to provide these kinds of services and wellness checks. It not only shows the care for employees but also for our residents.”
At the NRHA open enrollment and health fair event Oct. 8, community members and NRHA staff offered testimonials about their experiences with breast cancer, either as a survivor, caregiver or friend. Pressley, who is currently undergoing treatment for the disease, was asked to speak. Her start date with NRHA and her breast cancer diagnosis were separated by just 10 days in April 2025. The organization allowed her to defer her start date to attend to her health.
“As scared and nervous as I was, the many speeches (at the health fair) really put me and so many others in the moment,” she said. “Hearing the conversations that individuals had, especially about men who have battled breast cancer and, sadly, some who passed away reminded me how serious and universal this fight truly is.”
NRHA’s Vice President of Communications and Intergovernmental Relations, Leha Byrd, shared that her mother was twice diagnosed with breast cancer. The initial diagnosis was caught early and her mother was still independent during the battle, driving herself back and forth to radiation appointments.
Her mother’s second battle was around 2020 during the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was a stage 2 diagnosis this time and doctors took the cancer on “full throttle,” which included a double mastectomy and six rounds of chemotherapy.
“To see my mother that sick, hit different. After her first (chemotherapy) session, she was completely just weak all the time. I moved in with her just to be with her,” Byrd said. “We had very good caretakers and we had very good support from other people in our family. But for me personally, as her only daughter, it was the roughest thing I’ve ever seen my mother go through.”
Byrd said she herself has been getting annual mammograms since the first time her mother was diagnosed and advised all in attendance to get their health checked regularly. She added that studies show that Black women are more likely to die from breast cancer compared to other races.
According to statistics found on komen.org, the lifetime risk of breast cancer for women in the United States is about 13%. However, this risk varies by race and ethnic group. For example, non-Hispanic white women and non-Hispanic black women have the highest incidence of breast cancer overall. Hispanic women have the lowest incidence.
To that end, women and men are encouraged to be vigilant, early.
“Be proactive. The reason that my mother is still here is because they caught it early from her mammogram,” Byrd said. “If the cancer had started to spread, I would have a different testimony.”
Pressley echoed the sentiment.
“Take advantage of every opportunity (to be screened),” she said, “because early care and awareness can save your life.”
For more information about this story, contact dcuenca@nrha.us.
