Yarning ABOUT CANCER
B CNA ensured the 2024 Think Tank program had a strong focus on our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Responding to the unmet needs of First Peoples with cancer was an important BCNA commitment following the World Indigenous Cancer Conference which took place in Naarm (Melbourne) in March 2024. In 2003, as a new mum with her second child in her early 30s, receiving a breast cancer diagnosis was the very last thing Jacinta Elston, an Aboriginal woman from Townsville, expected to hear and as she told a captivated audience at BCNA’s Consumer Think Tank in March—her first thought was: “she didn’t have time!” Not only mother to a 7 year old daughter and a baby, she was the Associate Dean of Indigenous Health at James Cook University, Townsville. But in that strange way that life tends to throw unexpected and unwanted curve balls, Jacinta says her breast cancer diagnosis re- set the direction of her advocacy in improving outcomes of First Peoples towards a greater focus on the chronic gaps in cancer treatment, support and care. Her re-shaped advocacy journey in response to her lived experience of cancer, led her down many paths including joining BCNA’s Board in 2016 and becoming the inaugural Pro Vice Chancellor (Indigenous) at Monash University in 2018. In early 2022 Jacinta said goodbye to her important role at Monash to become a consultant who helped Cancer Australia in their efforts to talk to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities as they developed the Australian Cancer Plan. On the third day of Think Tank, Jacinta—who received her breast
cancer diagnosis 21 years ago— hosted a session of First Nations storytelling, with proud Yorta Yorta Elder Aunty Pam Pedersen, followed by a presentation from Colin Darcy, an Aboriginal man of the Narungga people, who is a partnerships and program advisor at Cancer Council Victoria. Jacinta shared with attendees that over the last five years she became very aware that cancer inequity in Indigenous communities was becoming more and more important, and that in 2022 it became recognised as the leading cause of death for Australia’s Indigenous people. This triggered her decision to leave Monash University after only four years and she become a consultant to Cancer Australia to help strengthen their Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander focus. She said her role in consulting and being on BCNA’s Board, help her advocate around the Cancer plans of both Cancer Australia, and the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO). Both plans were launched last year and provide a focus for strengthening and advocating for better cancer services, support and outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. She was proud to have played a part in influencing the National Cancer Plan, with “about a third of its focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people”. According to research from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), the gap in cancer mortality rates between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Indigenous people is widening. Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in First Nations women. Although First Nations
women are slightly less likely to be diagnosed, they are more likely to die from breast cancer. The 5-year relative survival rate for First Nations people is also lower (81%) compared to the general population (92%). “The biggest issue that we now have is that cancer has become the leading cause of death for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,” Jacinta said. “It’s overtaken the other chronic diseases that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been struggling with.” In the 21 years since her breast cancer diagnosis, Jacinta has witnessed change in Aboriginal health, particularly in the cancer space. “We’ve thought about the chronic diseases, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, those sorts of things … and we haven’t been thinking about cancer because our mob weren’t living long enough to get to cancer,” she said. Jacinta and Aunty Pam agreed on the enormous challenges ahead, particularly in remote Indigenous communities. They gave examples of First Peoples having to travel from far northern Western Australia to Perth for breast cancer treatments and the culturally insensitive experiences in “white” environments. Aunty Pam said that during treatments many First Peoples felt shy, frightened and disengaged. “It’s hard for our people to go to any health services because of how they feel.” Aunty Pam—who is 80 and was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2016—delighted attendees with stories of her fitness regime— swimming and running—and in February this year running 10 kilometres at BCNA’s annual Carman’s Fun Run.
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bcna.org.au
Issue 97 | April 2024
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