VolunteerVoice Diversity enhances delivery by Cancer Council NSW
Spring Edition September 2013
13 11 20 Photo courtesy of Three Blocks Left Design
Eat It To Beat It started as a pilot program in the Hunter five years ago. In 2013, the program was rolled out to a number of other areas in NSW. Eat It To Beat It trains volunteers to spread the message to parents about ensuring that their children are eating enough fruit and vegetables, and how to easily fit this into everyday life. Helpline Consultants provide information and support to callers ringing Cancer Council NSW’s 13 11 20 cancer information number. Helpline Consultants are qualified Health Professionals whose expertise in Oncology is supplemented with counselling experience. The Consultants take calls every day about different aspects of cancer. Calls can be wide-ranging and often may seem quirky or out of the ordinary. But all calls have the same need – for the caller to be heard, understood, and to conclude their conversation with a sense of hope, support, comfort and information. We respond to questions about cancer, queries about Cancer Council, and its programs. As well as very specific concerns about the disease that have all sorts of requests by people dialing 13 11 20. • We have taken many calls about Bowel Screening Kits, asking “Where can I access one, and do I qualify to have a free test?”
• “Wood smoke, does it cause cancer of the trachea?” • “Where can I get a wig for my cousin/sister/mother/aunt/niece/ daughter?” • Sun spots and skin clinics. “Where can I get them checked?” We advise to seek the opinion of ‘your local GP’. We do not recommend skin clinics. • Even ‘where to donate online?’, ‘how to hold an Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea event?’, and the odd general donation call.
One in four school aged children in Australia are classified as overweight or obese, and with many parents also overweight or obese, it has never been more important to promote how important fruit and veg are! Eating enough fruit and vegetables can reduce weight and the risk of some cancers. Read about Eat It to Beat It volunteer, Meiha Cheung, on page 14.
Helpline is so effective in very large part because of the work all our volunteers do in getting cancer information out into the community, so people confronting cancer know there is someone they can call. Each and every call is important to us, as all the calls are ultimately about the caller and their need to be listened to. It is the belief of the caller that Cancer Council can help them in some way. We do our best to ensure that this is the case for them. Continued on page 12
www.cancercouncil.com.au | Volunteer Hotline: (02) 9334 1813
Editorial team: Michael McGennan and Lucy Mowat. Feedback and contributions to volunteervoice@nswcc.org.au