Studies show that not all women who should be getting basic examinations such as Pap tests and mammograms do so. Obtain national figures and blend these with local information for a public service story about the necessity for these possibly life-saving checkups. Here's how Jeff South went about gathering the information. Follow this procedure for more recent figures and blend them with local material: I started at the Web site for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (http://www.cdc.gov/) an authoritative source for health information. At the top of the home page is a "Search" box. To get started, I type certain keywords, such as "mammograms" and "by state": ![](/sites/dl/free/0073511935/535055/Checkup_p1.jpg) (97.0K)
The "Search Results" page shows more than 9,600 documents containing those keywords. The third "hit" seems especially relevant and recent: ![](/sites/dl/free/0073511935/535055/Checkup_p2.jpg) (125.0K)
If I open that link, I get this report: ![](/sites/dl/free/0073511935/535055/Checkup_p3.jpg) (113.0K)
If I search for "pap smears" "by state", I get a 550-page report that is in the Adobe Acrobat format and is linked to an Excel spreadsheet. ![](/sites/dl/free/0073511935/535055/Checkup_p4.jpg) (80.0K)
New Developments An examination of studies of women who had mammographies showed that it was not effective in preventing deaths from breast cancer, some researchers announced. This set off a debate about whether women should routinely have mammographies. Locate this discussion through a search and include your findings in the story. What is the position of local physicians? |