Coastal Electric linemen wear pink for breast cancer awareness

Coastal Elec­tric line­men are show­ing their sup­port for breast health dur­ing the month of Octo­ber, which is Breast Can­cer Aware­ness Month. Each employ­ee who typ­i­cal­ly wears a white hard hat received a pink hard hat to wear this month.

Coastal Elec­tric Safe­ty Coor­di­na­tor James Thomas said the pink hard hat idea began to devel­op when 3M™, our sup­pli­er, cre­at­ed the pink hats to pro­mote breast can­cer aware­ness. In addi­tion to the pro­mo­tion­al efforts, 3M sup­port­ed the Amer­i­can Can­cer Soci­ety® by donat­ing $15,000 to breast can­cer research. “By us pur­chas­ing the pink hard hats, it helped 3M fund their dona­tion,” said Thomas.

Last year over 7,000 elec­tri­cal work­ers showed their sup­port by wear­ing pink on their head. Thomas said the pink hard hats were well received among the line­men. “Among our employ­ees we have a cou­ple folks who’ve had breast can­cer touch their fam­i­lies, so every­body was hap­py to do it,” he said.

When Coastal Electric’s line­men are out in the com­mu­ni­ty, Thomas hopes that peo­ple will take notice of the new hard hats. “I think it’ll make them look twice and show them that Coastal Elec­tric is com­mit­ted to breast can­cer aware­ness and we’re a good cor­po­rate part­ner,” he said.

At the end of Octo­ber, employ­ees will retire their pink hard hats to keep them in good con­di­tion for next year, since the co-op intends to make it an Octo­ber tra­di­tion.

Exclud­ing can­cers of the skin, breast can­cer is the most com­mon can­cer among women in the U.S., accord­ing to the Amer­i­can Can­cer Soci­ety. To pre­vent breast can­cer, it is rec­om­mend­ed that women have a mam­mo­gram every year start­ing at age 40 for those who are at an aver­age risk. Women should also have a clin­i­cal breast exam at least every three years start­ing at age 20, and every year start­ing at age 40.

Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive is a cus­tomer-owned pow­er sup­pli­er serv­ing Bryan, Lib­er­ty, Long and McIn­tosh coun­ties. The Co-op is head­quar­tered in Mid­way, GA.