FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
To date, Joe Cappello continues to build and promote educational programs supporting research, clinical upgrades and improved scanning/monitoring programs. The "Are You Dense?" Foundation and "Are You Dense?" Advocacy are produced by the Cappellos in pursuit of saving lives through awareness through uniting with community leaders, clinical professionals and public recognition off the continued risks of having dense breast tissue.
TRANSCRIPT OF PROCLAMATION: 9/19/2023
County of Santa Clara Board of Supervisors
SPEAKER: Santa Clara County (CA) Supervisor Joe Simitian- District 5
Thank you, Madam President. And I'm going to look to the clerk to see if we can bring Mr. Joe Cappello from “Are You Dense?” in Connecticut up on the screen.
Colleagues and members of the public, you'll recall of course that just last week, we adjourned our meeting in memory of Nancy Cappello, who passed away almost five years ago now. And it provided an opportunity for our board to reflect on Nancy's extraordinary work over literally decades. We also took the opportunity at our last meeting to express our formal support for the Find It Early Act which is an effort at the national level congressional level to take the next step in terms of addressing the cancer risk of women with dense breast tissue. Today, we are calling out the formal acknowledgement of World Dense Breast Tissue Day. And the reason for that, Joe, and colleagues and members of the public is to ensure that we take advantage of this opportunity to identify September 27th as World Dense Breast Tissue Day, so that members of the public will have the information, the knowledge, the power that Nancy Cappello thought they were entitled to all those years ago.
And as we have discussed previously (so I won't speak at quite substantial length today) this is information that patients need to have. They are now entitled to have it by law. That entitlement is in large measure, a function of the fact that Nancy Cappello took her own life experience and said others should have more power, more knowledge, more ability to affect the decision making in their own healthcare. For this, we are a better state, a better county, and in fact a better nation by virtue of her work. Joe, if you were here, I would have you up to the podium and I would hand you the physical commendation. But by virtue of our virtual connection today, I will virtually present it to you and we will send you the physical commendation and I hope it will find a place at “Are You Dense?”.
I'm guessing that your screen-... It doesn't reveal it, but I am wearing on my lapel the “Are You Dense?” button which I wore all those years ago when I was privileged to work with Nancy and the organization on California law. With that, Madam President, I say thank you to our board, and to my colleagues for their support on this measure and through the chair. With your permission, I'd like to give Mr. Cappello an opportunity to say a brief word or two.
Guest Speaker: JOE CAPPELLO
Well, thank you, Supervisor Simitian. As I said before, it's a real pleasure. I finally got to meet the other Joe in Nancy's life. And believe me, she always had kind words to say about you, and you were always a standup guy. You were the one that she could count on for honesty and truthfulness when we were doing our legislative work in California. What we have now is a disclosure law, which is a national law, which will take effect a year from now. This is huge step for the health of women all over this nation. What it's going to do is standardize (diagnostic care) in the medical field for women with dense breasts. I thank you in the name of Nancy for the proclamation. She deserves it all. She worked hard and worked smart. She was not only prettier than me, <laugh>, but smarter than me. And, I thank you on her behalf. I appreciate that. Thank you.
The Board of Supervisors of the County of Santa Clara, CA regularly meets in the Board of Supervisors’ Chambers, County Government Center, 70 West Hedding Street, San Jose. Regular meetings are held on designated Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m. The Board also holds regular meetings for the purpose of adjourning into Closed Session on Mondays at 2:00 p.m., which may be combined with meetings scheduled for the presentation of ceremonial items to be heard at 4:00 p.m.
