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MASCC 2016 | Supportive care improvement needs for indigenous communities

Jasmine Micklem, PhD, of the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Adelaide, Australia, and Roslyn Weetra, an Aboriginal Elder and cancer survivor, discuss the improvements required in supportive care services for indigenous communities. Ms. Weetra mentions an ongoing, strong government commitment about helping aboriginal people going through cancer treatment and providing aboriginal cancer coordinators, and a transitional program from hospital to home, allowing the patient to access sufficient information and the full range of services, with an equal pathway to a fair treatment plan. Dr. Micklem continues by highlighting the issue of higher mortalities due to people not entering the system quick enough, which contributes to this attitude in the community that the hospital cannot help them as much as they can in reality. Ms. Weetra believes there needs to be more cultural awareness in cancer supportive care. Recorded at the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC) and International Society of Ocular Oncology (ISOO) 2016 Annual Meeting on Supportive Care in Cancer held in Adelaide, Australia.