NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
A new three-year project is aiming to help aboriginal cancer patients in the Northwest Territories navigate the treatment system.

Dr. Andre Corriveau: New cancer project will give hope and identify system improvements. - NNSL file photo

Dr. Andre Corriveau, chief public health officer for the NWT, said the territorial department of health and social services and the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer are working on community-based cancer projects, which will help ensure patients better understand their treatment options and what to expect.

The two-part project will begin with the Dialogue and Storywork project, which will gather stories from cancer survivors about their experiences.

“It’s a brokered dialogue initiative where we’re going to have patients who have gone through, and their families have gone through, the process and talk about the issues they’ve encountered,” Corriveau said.

Participants’ interviews will be conducted in their own languages.

Medical providers will also be videotaped explaining cancer and its treatment to help patients and their families to understand the process.

All videos will be compiled into an informative video package, which will be distributed to local health centres or possibly uploaded to Youtube, Corriveau said.

“Some of the interviews will be taped in aboriginal languages and an English subtitle, instead of doing it the other way around,” he said. “So they might bring up things like, we wish we had access to traditional medicine while we’re going through cancer treatment, or talk about some of the issues of language and try to highlight issues they’re experiencing so that the health care system can respond to those identified needs in a better way.”

The video will be used as a resource for newly-diagnosed cancer patients and their families, as well as health centre staff members.

Corriveau said staff could benefit from the video, which would help explain some of the common fears and issues experienced by aboriginal cancer patients.

“These are the things your patients are telling us, that they’re experiencing, and you have to be mindful of those issues,” he said.

In 2012, sharing circle projects took place in Fort Good Hope and Fort Resolution to identify community concerns about cancer, which led to the formation of a cancer committee in Fort Good Hope, said organizer Melinda Laboucan.

Laboucan said many cancer survivors speak about being afraid and feeling alone when going through cancer treatment.

“Some of the cancer survivors had said they battled loneliness, they battled fear,” she said.

Laboucan said she hopes the videos will include stories of hope.

“We need to hear people who have personally gone through this and have beaten it, what did they do?”

She said one elder survivor told the committee about what helped give her the strength to battle cancer.

“It was Christmas music,” Laboucan said.

The elder said listening to Christmas-themed music reminded her of family gatherings and happy times, which helped give her hope.

The second part of the project, called the Continuity of Care project, involves educating local health staff about ways to help patients and families understand cancer treatment before they leave home, Corriveau said.

“It will help them anticipate what they will experience if they have to go for surgery or radio therapy. It’s really to help with the navigation process and patients aren’t left on their own to figure it out,” he said. “There is somebody at the local level who can help them, they don’t have to wait until they’re at Stanton or down in Edmonton to get the first orientation to the system of cancer treatment.”

Laboucan said she believes that initiative needs to go a step further. She said while nurses and other medical staff change over the years, she would like to see positions created in health centres that hire local people to help facilitate cancer information sharing sessions.

“We need somebody that is going to be here and is our own people and there is trust there,” she said.

Canada-wide initiative

Lee Fairclough, vice-president of strategy, knowledge management and delivery with Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, said the project is taking place throughout Canada.

“The other part of our agreement with all jurisdictions is a commitment to coming together across the country while we’re implementing to share experiences, learn from one another and tackle some common problems together as we go,” she said. “That’s the nature of the project.”

CPAC provided $1.5 million for both projects, which will include partnerships in other jurisdictions, Fairclough said.

Corriveau said planning will take place over the next six months. He said he believes creating culturally relevant material to help native populations navigate cancer treatment is an important project.

“They have unique needs in terms of the context and the issues that they encounter. The system is often from a different culture, so it’s an additional issue that has to be addressed,” he said. “I think it was a good initiative from CPAC to develop this funding stream that was very specific to that population and allows us to develop materials that are more culturally appropriate.”