Health program 15 - 13aug2024

The Cancer Society's Health Roadshow is happening in the Galway Shopping Centre on Wednesday and Thursday. The roadshow aims to raise awareness about cancer and promote health. They offer consultations with nurses, health checks, and provide information on risk factors and early detection. The goal is to encourage people to take their health seriously and see a doctor if they notice any changes. The roadshow is free and open to everyone. delighted to have on the line with me my first guest and it's Sarah Egan who is a cancer awareness nurse with the Irish Cancer Society. So first of all Sarah you're very very welcome to Connemara Community Radio. Thanks Mary and thanks for having me. What we want to talk about is the Cancer Society's Health Roadshow which is going to be in the shopping centre, Galway Shopping Centre on Hedford Road on Wednesday and Thursday 14th and 15th which is this Wednesday and Thursday coming. So tell us about it, what goes on at the Health Roadshow? Yeah so it is, we call it the Your Health Matters Roadshow. So just before I forget I suppose if anybody wants to look it up and see what other locations we're on or anything like that or if they want to look it up after this call they can go on to the website the cancer.ie website and if you search in the little search bar Your Health Matters it'll bring you straight to our own web page and it'll give you all the information on the Roadshow. But yeah so that's where the Your Health Matters Roadshow we travel around the country to different locations typically shopping centres in communities and we hold two day kind of, they're more cancer awareness events. So the idea is that we, I suppose health promotion really is the biggest thing and we just want to, you know anybody opportunistically passing by can stop, can come over, have a chat with a nurse, discuss any concerns that they may have, we can talk through them about risk factors, how to reduce your risk of cancer and really importantly talk about different kind of signs and symptoms and that early detection piece I suppose is the most important part of our work. Trying to get people kind of more aware of their own bodies, what's normal for them if they notice something that's not normal and then encouraging them to be able to have that I suppose that confidence and a little bit motivation to go and get checked out with their doctor. Yeah which of course is the most important thing but I mean if somebody comes in to you you know and they say well I think I might have a lump or I think I feel something different or I've lost a lot of weight, I mean would you automatically just send them to the doctor? What can you do for them there and then? Yeah so what in terms of what we call it more kind of a nurse consultation but as I said kind of the conversation that's the most important thing to try and encourage people to look at their own health but we do also offer in terms of kind of physical health checks, we do offer a blood pressure check, we can check your BMI so that's your height and your weight basically your body mass index and if they're smokers we do we can do a carbon monoxide reading as well to show the levels of carbon monoxide in your lungs but it really is that most important thing of because like that if I had if I were you over every time somebody has said can you check this here but you know it might be a mole or whatever it might be it is that kind of just sitting down and being able to give them that reassurance first of all that you know whether it is something they need to get checked out or not but just about that education piece as well and letting people know for example if it is a skin change that if that's new if it's changing if the color shape size has changed of that particularly in a kind of a in a small space of time then yes that they they don't need they need to go and go to their GP and that you know please don't delay the important thing is to try and encourage people to really look at themselves and think okay I do need to go and get that checked out I'm going to stop avoiding it I'm going to stop pretending it's nothing you know that kind of way and nine times out of ten any of these changes that we experience and often signs and symptoms that we describe are nothing to do with cancer and they're you know signs and symptoms of many other conditions but it's the important piece of going to get it checked out as early as possible because for the reality I suppose sometimes it is something that needs to be addressed and needs to be checked out and even if it's not cancer it could be something else that still needs to be checked out yeah so this is really making people aware that they should be going to the doctors if they feel anything is untoward happening to them absolutely and that's kind of why we go out into the the you know the communities and shopping centers because it's more you're meeting people where they're at as well particularly well I suppose shopping centers typically they'll have more women but I always find the impact of um particularly when we speak to men as well because it's more opportunistic typically men of a certain age group as well um won't be going to the gp like again the amount of times I've heard people say god I haven't been to my gp in 10 plus years or you know I don't even even know who my gp is now really um so it's about kind of meeting them where they're at and having that opportunity there's no pressure on them they don't have to pay to come in and speak to us or anything like that so they might you know the the valuable conversations that we've had have been really impactful um you know wherever we've been around the country and it's I think that's the most important beat that bit that we're meeting people where they're at as well so that you know they're sometimes they're often more open to talk to you then um when it's you know it's not kind of that forced appointment with the gp or they've been waiting weeks to get in with their gp you know that's anything so well of course that can be a problem at the moment but if you know if you do have to wait a long while to see your gp and it is uh something that related to can that is cancer of one form or another um you know that that weight could just make the difference between a you know a good outcome and an also good one yeah exactly and I suppose that's where the the your health matters roadshows came from initially um it was the whole kind of pilot program came out of covid and all the delays that people were experiencing you know even getting into their gp or getting appointments or and also kind of the affordability of it too for you know for a large part of the population as well um so again it's about that kind of just meeting them where they're at and then giving them that reassurance that we meet and again it's particularly um maybe of an older generation that they hate um taking up time or taking up space and they don't want to be wasting the doctor's time and they think it's nothing but it's that really important piece of having that conversation and realizing well no actually this is my health and you know it is something that is different for me or a change that's happened in my body it's not normal for me I need to go get it checked out and that was empowering people as well um to to go and make that step you know make that change as well well that all makes a perfect sense um and I do see on the press release in front of me that you know people should be you're increasing awareness of cancer um and improving medical care seeking behavior for the early signs so really anybody early signs are so difficult to describe really aren't they because they can be so different depending on the type of cancer and depending on the person so I suppose you know the early signs can vary from one to another absolutely 100 percent and as I said earlier like often you know the signs and symptoms that we can describe or like that early signs they can be of anything so it's you know what I always say to somebody is it's not that I'm telling you to be constantly looking out for signs of cancer but just know yourself know your body know what's normal for you so then when you recognize that something that's not normal or that there's a change there you know there and then okay this this is something different I need to go get it checked out right so sorry I just have just to remind people uh you're the road show is going to be in the Galway Shopping Centre on the Hedford Road from what this Wednesday and Thursday um 9 a.m 6 p.m is it 9 a.m 6 p.m and we're outside I think we're between Boots and Penny's oh right so that's an easy place to find anyway um everybody knows where Boots and Penny's are I think yeah so and it's totally free of charge of course people can just walk into you and discuss things with you um they don't have to have feel that they have a problem they just can go in and get information really no exactly and it's for anybody it's for you know people who you know like that may or may not have concerns about a change in their body or they might want to know about ways that they can reduce their risk or they might be they might have a family member going through there's loads of like the as a wider society we have a huge amount of um survivorship supports and services available as well so you can come and talk to us about that and we can signpost you to different um services that that you or a loved one may need um and yeah just anybody and everybody come and have a chat in terms of coming in and having kind of the the check with the nurse um inside the Boots it would be for over 18s only that's the only thing I would say that's fair enough yeah but other than that it is free and anybody can you know come along we have a nice stand outside the Boots as well with the lots of our kind of different props you know alcohol props and um bowel screening and different things like that so you know we've we've a huge amount of information that we can give out to anybody and loads of leaflets and resources there as well if anybody wants to pop along and come and say hi great well very very important things and we we do need to all be aware of our health as you say I have to leave it there unfortunately sir but thank you very very much for coming on so anybody who's who's interested in following this up it's a Wednesday this Wednesday and Thursday this week um nine to six in the Galway Shopping Centre on the Hedford Road uh so uh Sarah thank you very very much um and I hope you hope you get a great crowd coming in and people looking to to improve their health and to find out more about their health yes absolutely thanks a million Mary and I really appreciate that you're very welcome