Aundeck Omni Kaning Chief Patsy Corbiere relates her own family’s experience
AUNDECK OMNI KANING—It is a silent killer that doesn’t have to be. March is Colon Cancer Awareness Month and a local First Nation chief has brought her own family’s story forward in order to shed light on one of the major causes of untimely death in Anishinaabe communities.
In 2000, Aundeck Omni Kaning First Nation Chief Patsy Corbiere’s husband was shocked when he was diagnosed with colon cancer following a routine test for an unrelated health concern.
“We didn’t know anyone who had had cancer and the fear of his diagnosis led us to believe he was dying,” recalled Chief Corbiere. “Then I discovered that there had been a lot of cancer in our community but people just didn’t talk about it.” Chief Corbiere explained that her husband travelled to Toronto from their home in Aundeck Omni Kaning First Nation for surgery and treatment. Today her husband is cancer-free.
The experience led Chief Corbiere to start the conversation and promote cancer awareness and prevention in her own community and when she learned about the Canadian Cancer Society’s Screening Saves Lives program, she signed on to be a volunteer Health Ambassador.
The Screening Saves Lives program recruits and trains community-based volunteers to deliver cancer screening messages and guidelines. These Health Ambassadors then engage their friends, families and networks in conversations about cancer screening. The initiative promotes screening of colon, breast, and cervical cancers in under- and never-screened populations in Ontario.
In Ontario’s First Nations communities, the overall rate for new cancer cases nearly doubled between 1968 and 2001. Today, incidence rates of some cancers in these communities are approaching or even surpassing levels of the general population primarily, due to growing colon cancer rates. These communities are less likely to be regularly screened for colon, breast and cervical cancers, putting them at greater risk of dying from cancer.
Chief Corbiere says that fear of the test results and fear of travelling somewhere they don’t know is why many in her community don’t get screened.
“Many people don’t want to take the time to get screened because they’re scared. The volunteers in the Screening Saves Lives program help them understand that it’s not the test or the place they fear, it’s the results,” said Chief Corbiere, adding that “we also help them understand that the earlier the cancer is detected, the better off they will be.”
The peer educator approach of the Screening Saves Lives program successfully addresses screening barriers in many communities in Ontario. As the First Nation chief and as someone who has lived on the reserve for most of her life, Chief Corbiere has a good understanding of the barriers to screening and the misconceptions people have.
“Even though this is a remote area, I’m helping people to understand that there are services, that they’re not scary and that they need to use them,” she said. “Early detection of cancer can save your life.”
“We are proud of the work that our volunteers have accomplished with our First Nation communities in collaboration with our local health centers and health partners to increase screening rates among our First Nation people,” said Jo-Anne Thibodeau Audette, coordinator of Screening Saves Lives for Manitoulin Island First Nation communities. Ms. Thibideau Audette said that she hopes more volunteers will come forward to help get the word out in local communities. “We need more volunteers in our communities. Too many people are dying needlessly.”
Ms. Thibideau can be contacted at 705-368-3837 or 705-968-1004 or through email at JThibodeauAudette@ontario.cancer.ca.
