October may be over – and with it another wildly successful year for Breast Cancer Awareness – but unfortunately that doesn’t mean breast cancer goes away until next fall. It’s still here in November and in the daily lives of millions of women (and quite a few men). One of the strategies used to combat this disease is early detection, and in some places “Buddy Checks” get lots of publicity. You won’t find much in the way of scientific literature about buddy checks (unless it’s connected with scuba diving). Instead, it seems to be a goodwill gesture/public service/publicity tool, usually a public outreach by healthcare providers or televisions stations. In Augusta, if you think of the term “Buddy 
Check 6,” that’s because buddy checks have been publicized by Augusta’s WJBF, Channel 6. In a nutshell, the term is used to denote an agreement between two friends to remind one another to do their monthly breast self-exams (BSE). It could be a phone call, a text, or an e-mail every month on the same date. But it doesn’t have to be long-distance. Two buddies could help one another with their breast exams in person. . .
