Mental health, skin cancer awareness months recognized in Rochester

Monroe County, New York – The Monroe County Legislature is declaring May Mental Health Awareness Month. The non-profit specializes in managing public mental health services in Monroe and Livingston counties.

According to the agency’s president, the pandemic brought to light problems that were already there.

“The additional stress the isolation, you know, everything else people were already dealing with I think it was just exacerbated,” Anne Wilder, president at Coordinated Care Services, Inc., said.

May is also Skin Cancer Awareness Month.

On Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon, local dermatological services took part in a skin cancer screening drive.

Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the U.S., but doctors say it’s very treatable. “You know, I always think to myself, when the time comes and I leave this earth, if I save someone from dying from melanoma I did my job, Rochester Regional Health lead dermatologist Dr. Nana Duffy said. “So this is really kind of what feeds our souls is keeping people safe from really bad skin cancers that could be treated early.”

According to doctors, you can check for early signs of skin cancer by looking for multicolor dark spots, unusual new spots, moles, or lesions of the skin.