Cancer Society promotes prevention, healthy lifestyles

The state of Belizean medical care, both public and private, has made great strides over the last decade, but there are some areas of advanced care, like cancer, for which patients must seek help abroad. And while that situation may persist well into the future, News Five’s Kendra Griffith discovered that there are steps we can take now that will increase our odds of beating the disease.

Kendra Griffith, Reporting
This morning over sixty health practitioners attended a one-day symposium hosted by the Belize Cancer Society.

Nurse Laura Longsworth, Board Member, Bz. Cancer Society
“This is a time when health workers, healthcare providers get together to talk about issues regarding caring for patients with cancer. We’ll be looking at breast and getting some ideas about breast care from the physicians. I will be looking at working with the nurses in terms of how do you go about assessing cancer pain and what are the barriers to effective pain management.”

For Cancer Society Board Member and Nurse, Laura Longsworth, the number of nurses attending today is encouraging as they play an integral role when someone is diagnosed with the illness.

Laura Longsworth
“The nurse’s role is to calm the patient and to ensure that she gets the best information, all the psychological and emotional support and assist that patient to care, adequate, relevant care, to support groups. We must, as nurses we are required to do that because patients are looking to us for education, for information and for advocacy.”

The most common forms of cancer in women are cervical, breast, colon and gastrointestinal; men typically suffer from prostate, gastrointestinal, and lung cancer. But while most of the screening tests are easily accessible in Belize, according to oncogynaecologist and President of the Cancer Society, Dr. Alba Mendez-Sosa, only limited treatment is available.

Dr. Alba Mendez-Sosa
“Precancerous legions we can treat perfectly in Belize, at least in cervix cancer, in breast cancer, in prostate cancer. Once this goes into the process to become a cancerous problem, generally we noh have assistance like chemotherapy and radiotherapy and generally noh have the economic resources to try and support this patient.”

Laura Longsworth
“That’s where the problem begins because then we need to go abroad and then the financing becomes a real problem. So it’s a decision where that person can afford to go, whether the society can assist them to go or they do not seek further treatment. These are the issues that confront us on a daily basis at the society.”

Which is why, the society is taking the approach that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Laura Longsworth
“Most people think you can’t prevent cancer, but it’s a wellness approach, it’s a health promotion approach.”

Dr. Alba Mendez-Sosa
“We need to try to modify our lifestyle, we need to modify our activities to try and approve and decrease the risk that predispose us to have cancer.”

Laura Longsworth
“We kinda have to know what our health risks are and also what are the risk factors. Are you living in an environment with tobacco smoke, are we having unprotected sex. Are we having a pap smear every three years? Not to detect cancer, but to be well and that kind of thing. That is how you prevent. It’s how we eat, exercise, those are all the factors, all the wellness factors that can help us to build a strong immunity against cancer.”

During today’s symposium, the findings of a cervical cancer campaign held last August were presented, while in the afternoon the attendees participated in a roundtable discussion on the future of the Belize Cancer Society. Kendra Griffith reporting for News Five.

Tomorrow the Belize Cancer Society will be holding its annual general meeting. On Saturday they will be using their annual cancer walk to raise funds and awareness of cancer and promote healthy lifestyles. The walk starts at Celina’s in Ladyville and ends at the Juliet Orosco Soberanis Cancer Centre on Mercy Lane in Belize City. For registration information call 223-0922.