In discussion with Can Assist - it would appear that there are many 'sub groups' both in rural NSW and interstate towns that deal with 'specific cancers' (eg prostate, breast, bowel to name a few) but Can Assist is the only one (other than the Cancer Council which are usually city based) who assists those in ALL rural areas, with ALL types of cancers in a meaningful, financial way.
They have indicated that if any rural town in any state knows anyone who is keen to volunteer for a Can Assist Office in their town - they would be happy to help them set it up - after checking the various state laws & regulations in case they are different to NSW. They are really keen to get an office set up in Broken Hill, for example - but it needs feet on the ground, in the town to kick it off ..... anyone interested (in any state) can contact them via the website:
https://canassist.org.au/Please note that this is NOT an election sales pitch - it is about the current NSW Parliament member and her experiences with assisting patients in rural areas.In NSW, Bronnie Taylor (NSW Minister for Women, Regional Health and Mental Health)
was one of the original Breast Care Nurses in the Cooma/Monaro area and also helped kick off fundraising to set up a dedicated Oncology Unit in Cooma - which she was told at one stage, would never happen. She knows her stuff from a grass roots level and will have seen the financial stress put onto rural families (as seen in the newspaper clippings above) first hand.
Govt budget negotiations are going on now and Can Assist are really hoping for some changes to be announced by the end of June!
Bronnie Taylor has spent QUOTE:
eight years as a clinical nurse specialist in palliative care, both in the city and
the Monaro, three years as a clinical nurse consultant in cancer care, and four years as one of
the original Breast Care Nurses for the McGrath Foundation. UNQUOTE
She also says: QUOTE: I felt so acutely that
my patients were not getting the services they required or receiving the treatment they so
desperately needed as close to their homes and their families as possible.
Country people are so stoic—incredibly so—and this is something that struck me when I
made the move from the city to the Monaro. It was because of my patients that I set about
lobbying for a local oncology service. I knew we could safely deliver chemotherapy locally
and that this would contribute greatly to the treatment options and experiences of our local
patients. I approached the health service with my ideas, based on evidence that patients who
live outside the metropolitan centres have poorer health outcomes, often because they choose
treatment options that will not take them away from their homes or their communities but that
do not reflect best practice.
For example, a rural or regional patient will choose to have a radical mastectomy instead of
breast-conserving surgery partnered with chemotherapy and radiotherapy so that the time
they are away from home is minimised. I must make myself clear: I do not advocate for being
able to deliver all specialised health services and treatments in the regions—we want the best
specialists providing the best treatments in the best environments. But the services that we
can provide to the highest standards locally should be absolutely delivered locally, and there
is no doubt that this can be done with many cancer treatments. UNQUOTE
I recommend you read her Opening Speech in Parliament here, and see how passionate she is for better health outcomes for those of us in rural areas. She outlines her nursing/advocacy for rural groups here (particularly on pages 2 & 3 which relates to her nursing & experiences with cancer patients):
https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/member/files/121/Hon%20Bronnie%20Taylor%20-%20Inaugural%20speech.pdf
It is just fantastic that we have women of her calibre putting forward the fight for better services for rural people across the whole range of health issues - not just cancer.
SO .... if you live in rural NSW and have (or know anyone with
) financial difficulties due to their cancer treatments away from home, please make contact with them at the website above - or message them directly (as I have been doing) on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CanAssistNSW1. ; They usually reply within an hour or so during working hours.
These are the towns in NSW that Can Assist is currently servicing with volunteer-manned offices ..... as you can see - Western NSW and the South Coast, Central Coast & North Coast areas of NSW is not well represented ..... yet
