State Senator Joseph J. Crisco Jr. (D‑Woodbridge) was honored Thursday with a “Special Recognition Award” by the Valley Women’s Health Initiative for his legislative work over the past five years that has helped countless women secure extra ultrasounds and MRIs – all paid for by commercial insurance – in an effort to increase the early detection and treatment of breast cancer.
Sen. Crisco’s honor came at “Women Making a Difference in the Valley,” an annual ceremony held to honor women’s commitments to Valley communities.
The other 2014 honorees were:
Kayleigh Apicerno, Seymour
Marion Bradley, Beacon Falls
Pamela Petro, Shelton
Carolyn Schuster, Derby
This year’s event – attended by more than 100 women — coincides with National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Sen. Crisco is the first man in the luncheon’s 17-year history to be honored.
“I am deeply touched by this recognition from the Valley Women’s Health Initiative, but I have to say that my greatest joy is knowing that women in Connecticut – our sisters and mothers and daughters and others – are getting life-changing treatment because we in the legislature had the courage and the resolve to do the right thing,” Sen. Crisco said. “It is women’s advocates like the Valley Women who have been leading the charge for these changes. They are the true heroes.”
Valley Women’s Health Initiative co-chairs Dr. Stephanie Wain and Kate Cosgrove lauded Sen. Crisco’s leadership on the legislature’s Insurance Committee in passing pass two important laws to help ensure women’s breast health: requiring insurance companies to cover an ultrasound or an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) for women with dense breast tissue, which can obscure cancerous tumors in a standard mammogram.
These aids to early detection and treatment are making a difference. According to the Centers for Disease Control, while Connecticut has one of the highest incidences of breast cancer in the nation (because it is detected), Connecticut also ranks as one of the lowest states in America where women actually die of the disease (because they receive treatment.)
“These initiatives have probably saved hundreds of lives, women who in the past were wrongly sent home seeing nothing wrong,” said Dr. Wain, who is chair of the Department of Pathology at Griffin Hospital in Derby. “Since this legislation I see smaller and smaller tumors and more women being saved. It’s been a game-changer for women in the State of Connecticut.”
“He’s the first man we have recognized, which is out of the ordinary. But he has had such a huge impact on women’s breast health,” Cosgrove said. “His work with Nancy Cappello to come up with legislation that requires insurance companies to cover ultrasounds and MRI’s for dense breast tissue, it’s a huge accomplishment, and it has had a huge impact on women.”
Cappello is the executive director and founder of Are You Dense, Inc., an organization that educates women about the risks and screening challenges of women with dense breast tissue. She also received a Special Recognition Award today.
“Without Senator Crisco’s relentless pursuit of equal access to ultrasounds and MRIs for women with dense breast tissue, we would not have Connecticut’s legislation or similar legislation in 19 other states,” Cappello said. “It takes a champion like Joe Crisco to defeat the critics and the opponents. Joe understood the science and he did the right thing.”
