Don’t just “live with” cancer, women urged

JACKIE WALLACE

Taravat Ostovar has one of the unhappiest and most difficult tasks in Nunavut – finding women with cancer.

As coordinator of the Women and Cancer Project for the Nunavut Status of Women Council, the toughest job for Ostovar is locating the women.

“It’s a challenge to get to women with cancer in Nunavut,” says Ostovar, coordinator of the Women and Cancer project for the Nunavut Status of Women Council. “They just live with it.”

The project aims to end the isolation and fear of women diagnosed with cancer and provide them with information and support. When the project began in 2001, it focused on women with breast cancer, but was expanded last year to include other types of cancer that are prevalent in women, such as cervical cancer, which accounts for 30 per cent of cancer in women in Nunavut.

“The council realized that survivors needed support,” says Ostovar. “All of the members of our support group tell us that they are the best resource for each other. Survivors are great assets to their communities because other women can go to them for help.”

Although breast cancer occurs at a lower rate in Nunavut than the rest of Canada, it occurs at a younger age and 87 per cent of cases are not reported until they reach the malignant stage, making education and screening information an important part of the project.

“A lot of elders ask me why there are so many more cases of cancer,” says council member Rhoda Ungalaq. “Inuit used to live much shorter lives because of harsh conditions, but our lifestyle has changed and now they can go to a health centre and be diagnosed very quickly.”

The program still focuses on providing resources on breast cancer. The organization provides information kits for high schools and health centres for 25 communities in the territory that include information on self-breast examination to promote early detection.

The program’s current initiative is translating material from the Canadian Cancer Society into Inuktitut to be available at health centres across Nunavut, as well as in Ottawa, Edmonton, Yellowknife and Winnipeg, which are the four out-of-territory cities where Nunavut patients are treated.

Although Ostovar and Ungalaq are keeping their fingers crossed that Iqaluit will have the capacity to do mammograms within the next year, Ottawa is currently the closest place for women to go.

“If you want to have a mammogram the doctor will ask you when you want a holiday,” says Ungalaq.