My name is Caitlin Warton. I'm the health promotions officer for our cancer care program here at Puntukurnu Aboriginal Medical Service, also known as PAMS.
How do you raise awareness in community
There's a lot of work that goes into making sure people know about a program like this, especially a brand new one. So I kind of have to leverage the fact that we know about the breast screening bus to kind of like, oh yeah, we've got another one coming through now and it's really exciting.
So yeah, it's just a lot of yarns, a lot of getting out there into communities. Sometimes I'll even set up at the front of the clinic to do our little tea and coffee sessions. Even while some at the shops, I have talked with people, which is just a constant reminder to everyone that I've talked to that this is what I do and this is what we need to get done. And that thing, we've got this really awesome service coming to town that we've never had before.
How have you worked with Heart of Australia
Communication, a lot of emails back and forth to make sure that we get everything right, just so that I don't know where they're going to be parked and everything. Trying to get it out to community is also a really big challenge, especially with the roads and stuff. So a lot of coordination from both ends. So I'm essentially the hands on the ground to help coordinate all our teams to make sure that they know when the truck's here, we know that patients have something to do when they come to the truck. So I try to organise activities, information, not just around smoking and stuff like that, but for other programs that we have going on as well. So try to make it a bit more of a holistic health promotional event, why we've got this truck and stuff in. So it's kind of like a massive pool to get people to learn more about their body and stuff like that. So it's just a really all round exciting experience and a lot of collaboration goes into it, but it's been really awesome working with Heart of Australia to get it here and actually see it here on the ground.
How important is it to bring mobile screening into your community
From my own job perspective it is just a massive achievement for us. Without the truck, I would have been having to plan trips to Port Headland or Perth, which you know, our shortest trip to Port Headland would have been at least a 5 hour trip or 12 hour trip to Perth, just to get a CT scan.
You know, which isn't the best. You know, people aren't going to want to travel, travel 12 hours for what is a 5-10 minute scan when, you know, now we've also got this truck here, which makes it so much easier. And now you know, with plans to actually get out to some of our more smaller remote clinics and that as well. It's just going to, it's a game changer for me and my role. So yeah, it's just making things a lot easier. I'm going to actually be able to help make an impact on the ground with getting people screened and making sure that they know about this program, especially since, you know, the National Lung Cancer Screening Program is our first national cancer screening program since like the 90s.
So yeah, it's a really big momentous thing at the moment. So I'm just really excited, keen to tell people about it and can't wait to see where it goes in the future.
Why is this service important to you
I'm Aboriginal myself, I'm a Kuma woman from southwest Queensland.
And the truck in the Queensland routes that they have with Heart 5 truck visits my hometown. So I know personally the impact this can have on community from the services it offers to my own family and stuff over there. Yeah, they didn't realise how big of a deal it was that they didn't have it over here in WA. So to be a part of the launch of it all is really exciting. I'm very proud to be here and that I get to be a part of it. And yeah, so I just, I just know the impact itself and I've worked in the cancer space a little while now too, and have always been interested in working with my community, even though I'm not on my country. It's good to be able to work with community and actually help address problems that we're having.
Why is early detection important
Early detection is for all cancers is really, really important, especially for our mob. The research out there is saying that we're getting diagnosed at a later stage than non-Indigenous people. So we're getting diagnosed with the stage 4 cancers as opposed to the stage ones. So programs like these actually help us capture it when it's in the early stages so that we can actually treat it, fight it and get people into remission and hopefully that they don't have to go through it again.
So that's why programs like these are important, just like the lung cancer screening program, breast cancer, cervical cancer and bowel cancer. Early intervention is just a big point for all of them. Like the better the earlier you capture it, the better it is.
What opportunities are there to strengthen conversations with mob about screening
Having the small conversations here and there with people that have been going through it in the what I consider our first cohort of screeners here in the Pilbara, they have been the biggest champions for me to get the word out there. More than any poster, more than any video or ad and stuff. Community members talking about it is our best bet for getting the word out.
What are the challenges in talking about screening to mob
Biggest challenge about understanding the importance of early intervention is getting the language right, and that is actually getting into community and talking to them and their lingo, their language and how they want to understand it. So using their words to understand what they actually know to be the words for lungs and stuff like that.
Yeah, yeah. All good. Alrighty. Yeah. There you go. Alright. Yep. Yep. We'll see you next time.
Alright. Yeah. Yep. Alright, bye.
She highlights the importance of strong coordination of health services in remote regions and supporting communities by speaking the same language.