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Pink October
Humanizing Medicine and Raising Breast Cancer Awareness Yael Porto Silva & Louise d’Abadia Morais & Gabriella Reis de Barros Ribeiro
IFMSA - Brazil Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Goiás yaelpsilva@gmail.com
The “Pink October” (PO) movement was born in the United States in the 1990s in order to encourage public involvement in the control of breast cancer. The event is celebrated annually in order to educate the community about the disease and share information about breast cancer. The first initiative seen in Brazil about it was the pink lighting of the Mausoleum of Constitutionalist Soldier on October 2nd, 2002, and thereafter, multiple events have taken place in order to guide the population. Thereby, we made a linked action to the PO through the Local Committee of the Pontifical Catholic University of Goiás (LC PUC-GO) - IFMSA Brazil, to contribute to the prevention of breast cancer, disseminating knowledge among women who lack this information. The action was taken at the Nascer Cidadão Maternity (NCM), a hospital of medium complexity, whose management is municipal. The audience mainly comprised pregnant women who were awaiting care or were already hospitalized and their accompanying. Everyone received verbal guidance and pamphlets on prevention of breast cancer and its importance. Finally, they were encouraged to donate their hair undergoing chemotherapy. Visiting the NCM also allowed us to report the experiences about the multidisciplinary and humanized operation of this hospital, based on a holistic view and otherness of the institution towards the user.
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apartments (privacy and comfort); women who have had miscarriages separation policy (sharing of experiences); vaccination rooms; Guthrie test; Beta-hCG; Laboratory Tests; Medical ultrasound - all the free primary care they need is provided. This humanized assistance allows the comprehension of the patients’ universe which results in positive effects on their satisfaction and on the health service’s quality, in addition to the direct influence it has on the health status of the patients. So the rethinking of medical practice that has taken place since the 1950s is relevant, as it aims at the acquisition of skills by health professionals and managers in health. In the fifties, for example, the German physician and philosopher Karl Jaspers emphasizes the need for recovering subjective elements back into Medicine who was pursuing a path based exclusively on technical instrumentation and data objectivity. Therefore, the integrated work seen at NCM is noted for establishing solidarity ties and for the concern in creating and maintaining the bond between the management and the patient, factors that are central to the choice of the maternity as a space for LC PUC-GO’s action. “Pink October” allowed the experience of a humanized medicine to fellow medical students, contributing to their professional development, and also promoted health education to the community about breast cancer.
The healthcare center is considered a reference in the humanization of childbirth and has an extensive network of health professionals, such as doctors, nurses, nutritionists, speech therapists, dentists and psychologists. It offers health production related services such as: social workers and ‘Doulas’ (a birth companion and post-birth supporter); registry; milk bank; no nursery (strengthens the mother-child bond); medical students worldwide | MM 2016, Malta