Sisterhood in health

Snehita is on a mission towards improving women’s health and well being

May 18, 2018 03:37 pm | Updated 03:37 pm IST - Thiruvananthapuram

 After an awareness programme at Leo College, Sreekaryam on the occasion of World Cancer Day

After an awareness programme at Leo College, Sreekaryam on the occasion of World Cancer Day

 

When faced with a room full of apprehensive women at breast cancer awareness camps, Bindu Meher resorts to her most assuring ice-breaker, “I am a two-time cancer survivor.” As a volunteer with Snehita Women’s Health Foundation, a not-for-profit, voluntary organisation based in Thiruvananthapuram, Bindu often finds attendees unwilling to discuss the elephant in the room. “I introduce myself this way so that they see an example of someone who has overcome the disease and is an active member of society,” the training consultant with UST Global says.

Snehita materialised in 2015 from a concern that surgical oncologist and additional professor Dr. Paul Augustine shared with his wife, Dr. Regi Jose, after coming across several cases of young women at Regional Cancer Centre in Thiruvananthapuram that could have seen a successful cure if the cancer had been detected early. “What can be dealt with while still the size of a manjadikkuru (bead tree seed) is brought to doctors when it has become as large as a golf ball, by which time it would have reached stage two or three,” says Regi, medical director of Snehita and professor of community medicine at Sree Gokulam Medical College.

“People don’t have to wait to be unwell or develop symptoms before undergoing a screening. What eventually shows as a lump might have been developing in the body over three to four years. Detection at an early stage makes a difference.”

When it was observed that many women were interested but remained hesitant because of their embarrassment, Snehita decided to conduct screening camps. Regi has been training community volunteers at Karakonam Medical College since 2005. When she set out with the purpose of educating women through Snehita on all there is to know about cancer, she did not see how the organisation would grow to include 56 volunteers, 15 being doctors. Regi’s classmate and friend Dr. Anoop Lal, director of Centre for Preventive Health, was instrumental in registering Snehita as an organisation in 2016. With every camp that Snehita was invited to in the capital, be it at government offices or private companies, queries came in from organisers and participants on how they could continue to offer their services.

As the volunteers, all doctors, could give enough time to only 30 to 50 persons per camp, it was decided to train women in offering basic, general information on breast awareness to make the women more aware and alleviate any misconceptions by the time they reached the consultation rooms.

Guidance will be offered in reproductive, lifestyle and emotional health problems as well for women at the camp. A group of men also volunteers at Snehita by providing technical support.

 Awareness session for health workers at Health Centre Pangappara

Awareness session for health workers at Health Centre Pangappara

Sindhu Chendurpandian, a software test engineer with Finastra, started as a volunteer and is now a programme manager for Snehita’s awareness camps. She felt that breast cancer awareness was the need of the hour after attending one of Regi’s sessions at Technopark. Sindhu is glad to be of practical help to those who approach her at a critical time in their lives. “I got a call from a man based in the United States recently, saying his mother had been diagnosed with cancer. He looked up the condition on Google and was worried that she might not survive, that he’d heard that appointments were hard to get in Kerala and so on. This is where we, community volunteers, come in. I didn’t help him monetarily or use any influence to get him an appointment. But I was able to give him the right information. He called me again later to say they had found treatment here at RCC and that his mother was doing well,” says Sindhu.

Since setting up a clinic in 2016, also called Snehita, near Medical College, where women can come for screenings, Regi says 10 to 12 cases were detected in their early stages. The organisation has a project called FACT (Fight Against Cancer in Thiruvananthapuram) to ensure a follow-up of women who have undergone baseline screening through the breast cancer screening and awareness programmes since 2015.

“A screening only guarantees that a person is cancer-free right then or up till then. Most people are lax about follow-ups that need to be done every six to eight months or annually. Cancer can occur afterwards too,” Regi says.

Apart from late detection, she adds that inappropriate handling also affects the curability and quality of treatment. “Many youngsters act on getting the lump removed as quickly and quietly as possible after which it is sent for a biopsy. All lumps don’t need removal. The correct diagnosis matters. Doctors also need adequate training.”

“Cancer detection comes from years of experience,” Dr. Paul explains, dismissing any notions that medicines and money alone can cure the disease. “While a person’s biology determines the cure, the other important factor is having an experienced doctor treat the patient.”

The REACH (Respond, Empower, Act for Community Health) programme will be started with the motive of making a Snehita volunteer available in every community. On May 20, a pilot session will be held at Medical College with talks by doctors on common gynaecological and reproductive health problems, common mental health issues, oral healthcare, diabetes and women, early detection of common cancers, heart disease and its prevention. Service-minded women between the ages of 25 and 55 with a plus two or equivalent education, who represent residential areas and are savvy with smart phones can register. Once training has been imparted, volunteers will be expected to meet at least 20 women in their community every month to enquire about and listen to their health needs, providing information and referring professional help where needed apart from creating community sisterhoods that meet once a month and stay connected online.

Bindu recalls how it was her support system of family and friends that helped her beat cancer. She is the co-ordinator of another programme called SHARE (Support, Hope and Awareness for Re-emergence) that will be launched on the same day to specially help cancer survivors and their support system of caregivers, namely family, friends and the extended community, through conversations and guidance. “There are many ways in which society can intervene,” she says.

Call 8281138335 or log on to www.snehita.in

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