Tough men don pink hard hats

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) -- Workers from Tucker Mechanical will wear pink hard hats in honor of Breast Cancer awareness month starting on Monday, October 1.

"There is something you can do about breast cancer," said Dr. Anees Chagpar of the Yale Cancer Center. "From getting screened and being aware of your risk, to making a donation to breast cancer research that's going on all over the country."

Dr. Chagpar is a breast cancer specialist. She says sometimes a little push like seeing pink hard hats is enough to convince someone to get checked out. That's exactly what happened to Beverly Turner.

"I came to this event three years ago and listened to Dr. Chagpar and though maybe I should go get a mammogram," she said. "So I did, and in December of that year, I was diagnosed with breast cancer."

You're going to see a lot of pink ribbons, and a lot of pink clothes during the next month, including on people at News 8, because we are pushing to make sure everybody is aware that it's never been easier to get yourself tested.

"There are many facilities all over the state, including here at Smilow where we have 3D mammography," said Dr. Chagpar. "It's really important that you get screened and that we pick up these cancers early when we can cure them."

So the workers from Tucker Mechanical put on their hard hats and formed a pink ribbon in the hope of saving someone like Beverly.

When asked whether or not her story would be different today if she hadn't gotten that extra push, she said, "Absolutely, I could be telling a very different story."

The workers will wear their pink hard hats for all of October.