Summary
- the women's health outreach clinic and Yarning circle held at Poruma (Coconut) Island.
- purpose is to share information and updates on the activities about cancer screening.
- valuable experience for both the 18 women attending and for health service staff.
A women’s health outreach clinic and Yarning circle was held on Poruma (Coconut) Island earlier this month (11-14 May).
Torres Strait Women’s Health Acting Program Manager Lily-Annie Ahmat said the clinic and Yarning circle had proved very popular.
“Both the clinic and the Yarning circle were well attended, with strong support from health staff at Poruma Primary Health Care Clinic,’’ Mrs Ahmat said.
She said the purpose of the Yarning circle was to share information and updates on the activities of the Men’s and Women’s Health Program, in particular relating to cancer screening.
“We focused on cervical screening, breast screening and bowel Screening,’’ Mrs Ahmat said.
“A demonstration of how the screening is done was given to the ladies and an opportunity for them to ask questions.
“The Poruma outreach clinic and Yarning circle was our opportunity as a health service to build a culturally safe rapport between the health service and community.
“We also wanted to engage with our young women and initiate discussions with community to hear their feedback and listen to their needs as a way of improving services offered by the Men’s and Women’s Health Program.’’
Mrs Ahmat said 18 women attend the Yarning circle, which was supported by Poruma Health Worker Angela Stephens.
“This was a great turnout by the local community,’’ Mrs Ahmat said.
“Angela was the driver to encourage women to attend and organised gift bags to hand out. “She is very passionate about women’s health, and the women of community knew her well. “This was reflected in the great engagement during the Yarning, with lots of questions asked.
“For instance, some women hadn’t known much information about our cancer screening program and why it was necessary – they found it helpful to see the demonstration.
“An elder, who is normally very private, felt moved to share her story of participating in the cervical screening program to encourage the young women to attend for the screening as well.
“I also spoke to the circle about the struggles island women face with ‘every-day’ life and related these to the importance of prioritising their health and going into the PHCC for check-ups and utilising the regular doctor clinics to discuss health issues they may be concerned about.
“We also had an activity which encouraged conversations about women’s business from the perspective of the island women themselves, to see what mattered most to them.
“We asked the women to share something special about themselves or to share their most memorable or funniest health experience – all of which encouraged women to share and educate us, the staff, about their individual health perspectives.
“Some women said they felt too ashamed to ask questions about the bowel screening kit at the primary health care centre itself, so having the yarning circle was a more comfortable way to ask questions they avoided.
“The main feedback from the ladies was about having more such sessions.
“They were moved by the information that was given and wanted to continue to have the conversations and opportunities to connect.
“All in all, it was a valuable experience for both the women attending and for health service staff and something we will be looking at repeating in the future.’’