What do you do?

A big part of my role is to support a woman through her breast cancer journey, and to be there, to be there at all stages. So, I’m often there at the point of diagnosis, I’m there in the consultation when the woman is being told that she has breast cancer, so I have the benefit of actually gauging how she’s reacting to the diagnosis, and that’s a big thing. So I can see whether she’s totally shocked, whether she’s even hearing what the doctor’s saying or whether she actually is taking in everything astutely. And often too I’m here with the surgeons—in the afternoon we have clinics here—and I’ll be working with that surgeon and I say to the women that if you ring me I’m often working with him, so I can just pop in between patients and say, “Mrs so and so wants to know...” and I have the answer and ring them back. And then, we just don’t want anyone out in the community worried, that’s my big thing. We’re just here to hear, and welcome them. It’s a drop in centre you can come in anytime.

What are the current statistics regarding breast cancer?

I can’t answer the question of the statistics because we’re always a couple of years behind, but one in eight women are going to now get breast cancer in their life time and that’s the recent statistic which, when I started years ago, it was one in fourteen. Now we don’t know whether that’s because women are more aware, breast aware now. I try not to think about statistics because every woman’s individual and, her case and her needs are different.

Who are Chicks in Pink?

I don’t know of any other hospital that has their own boutique, and ours in Chicks in Pink. Chicks in Pink was opened by three young women: Meaghan Bakker from Bakker Diamonds, Jo Collins and Felicity Robson from One Harvest. It caters for everyone, we’ve designed a men’s shirt as well so that the men aren’t left out, and we have men’s ties that do have breast’s on them. We actually had half of parliament wearing them a couple of years ago on Breast Cancer Awareness Day.