By Natasha Fujimoto
TO be diagnosed with breast cancer is a verdict that no one wants to hear and before a patient can collect her thoughts, she is swept away by treatments and appointments, often losing her sense of self and sometimes, even her dignity.
Diagnosed with breast cancer in November2021, Shepparton resident, Olinda, began her radiation treatment at GenesisCare.
Acknowledging the exceptional care given by the staff at the cancer treatment centre, Olinda felt exposed and uncomfortable during radiation sessions which required her to be unclothed from the waist up, as she said, “It was very confronting and embarrassing having to walk into a room with your chest bare, despite how lovely and caring the staff were.”
Wanting to alleviate the embarrassment for herself and other patients, Olinda teamed up with Goulburn Valley Quilters to make personalised modesty covers to help restore a little ease and dignity during treatment.
Coordinating Breast Cancer Groups to provide support for patients and to garner feedback about their cancer treatments, GenisisCare immediately jumped on board with Olinda’s simple but effective idea, as patient services officer Allison Elliot said, “We set up patient groups to provide us with feedback; it’s all about changing what we can to make them feel better, that’s our focus and we have had a very positive response about the modesty covers. We hope to roll them out in the future to other GenesisCare sites.”
With 50 modesty covers already made with the help of GV Quilters and with messages of support sewn into each of them, Olinda said, “It’s such a simple idea to keep the dignity of the people who are receiving treatment and they provide a personalised touch to those who need it most.”
