Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with It’s a Bloke’s thing Foundation Education Program Facilitator Ruth Logan

Transcript

Katie Woolf spoke with It’s a Bloke’s thing Foundation Education Program Facilitator Ruth Logan · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Many of you who listen to the show will know
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: that I'm fairly heavily involved in fundraising when it comes
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: to well prostate cancer and men's health. We've got the
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Father's Day fun run run with Dad coming up on
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Father's Day, and there's also a luncheon that we have
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: each year for the It's a Blokes Thing Foundation and
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: the education program facilitator Ruth Logan joins us in the
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: studio right now. Good morning Ruth, Good morning Katie, and
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: good morning all the listeners. Now, obviously we had a
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: massive luncheon earlier in the year. It was wonderful and
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: plenty of money raised. And what it means is that
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: then you're back here in the territory, traveling around to
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  Speaker 1: see a lot of those different businesses that were there,
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  Speaker 1: and really going out and speaking to men about their
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: health and prostate cancer.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: That's right. I'm starting that really vital conversation with men
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: because men are so timid about this, and you can
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: see them looking a bit shy when we start, but
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: as the as the talk progresses, they relax. It's about
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: talking their language, translating the medical jargon into everyday language
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: that blokes can understand.
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: It's my role and it's such an important thing to do.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: I I'll never forget when my dad was first diagnosed
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: with prostate cancer and he almost felt a little bit
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: embarrassed to say that he had prostate cancer.
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: And I think, you know, we've got to break down
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  Speaker 3: that stigma.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: We've got to make sure that we speak about prostate
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  Speaker 1: cancer and men's heell thos openly as we women speak
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: about this kind of thing.
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  Speaker 2: That's right, Katie, it's a really big deal for blokes
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: and we need to get the conversation normalized so that
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: blokes can talk about this like women do. But a
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: lot of that generation of your men, your father's age,
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: it was a very secret man's club, and that's why
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: it's a bloke thing. Foundation was initiated in twemb ten
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: years ago. Now well it's nearly eleven years actually, and
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: I have seen so far this year, I've had over
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: a thousand conversations with blokes about this. And if every
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: bloke then has another conversation with two or three blokes,
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: we're getting the message out there that this is not
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  Speaker 2: something to be shamed of. It's something we need to
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: talk about. And there's two conversations that are really vital.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: The first one that I want all the men listening
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  Speaker 2: is to make sure they know their family history. So
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: have a conversation with your father, your grandfather, your brothers,
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: your uncles, any men in your life, because you've got
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: a greater risk of getting prostate cancer if there's someone
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: else that's had it in your family.
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  Speaker 1: And then if they have, you know, if they do
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  Speaker 1: come from a family that has got that history, what
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: do they then need to be aware of and what
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: do they need to sort of do well.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: Prostate cancers are very silent assassin, so most men in
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: the early stages of prostate cancer don't know they've got it,
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: and so we don't have a screening process like we
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: do for breast cancer and bowel cancer and cervical cancer.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: So we need men to step up to the plate.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: And the next conversation they need to have is with
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: their GP and they need to work out their own
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: personal prostate plan, because everybody's plan might be different. I've
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: had five men in my family I have had prostate cancer.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: None of them have died from prostate cancer because they
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: were detected early. And if these blocks are the sort
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: of blokes that wait till they've got a problem before
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: they go to the doctor. By the time they get
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: there it could be too late. So we need you
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: to do service and maintenance on a regular basis with
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  Speaker 2: your body. And ideally, if you've got a family history,
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: that service and maintenance plan should start when you're forty
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: years of age. If you don't know your family history
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  Speaker 2: by the time you're forty five, i'd like you to
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  Speaker 2: have talked to your doctor about this, and if you
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  Speaker 2: know you definitely don't have a family history, then you
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: might be right to start at fifty with your testing.
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: Now.
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  Speaker 1: I know that there's lots of talk these days about
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: your PSA.
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  Speaker 3: And lots of blokes don't actually know what.
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  Speaker 1: Their PSA is and don't know exactly what they need
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  Speaker 1: to be doing.
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  Speaker 3: So Ruth, what is it?
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  Speaker 2: Well, PSA is a blood test, and for those folks listening,
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: you might be relieved to hear that no longer do
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  Speaker 2: you necessarily require to have a physical examination, which does
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: tend to be something that puts some men off going
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  Speaker 2: to the doctor. It's ten seconds of indignation, but it
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  Speaker 2: could be a lifesaver for you. Our days, most doctors
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  Speaker 2: will just do a simple blood test, so that's pretty
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  Speaker 2: easy for you to do and you just need to
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: make sure you have the conversation with your doctor so
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  Speaker 2: it is being checked. It won't necessarily be done unless
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  Speaker 2: you talk about it. And PSA is a prostate specific
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  Speaker 2: antigen and that is a hormone produced by the prostate
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  Speaker 2: That isn't necessarily going to tell you that you've got cancer,
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  Speaker 2: but it will tell you that something is going on
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  Speaker 2: with your prostate. It could be an infection, it could
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  Speaker 2: be an enlargement. There's a lot of reasons why it
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  Speaker 2: can be raised, but it does alert you to the
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  Speaker 2: fact that you need to look further into it.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Ruth, I have had people say to me, I
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: went to my doctor and asked for a PSA test
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  Speaker 1: and they said I didn't need one. But this is
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  Speaker 1: a recommendation from or this is information from the Prostate
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  Speaker 1: Cancer Foundation of Australia, isn't ash.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, I only give the guidelines based on the Prostate
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  Speaker 2: Cancer Foundation of Australia because that's the organization that we support.
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  Speaker 2: Every dollar that is raised by it's a bloke thing
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  Speaker 2: foundation goes straight to the PCFA and with that we
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  Speaker 2: use research and we use some of the money to
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  Speaker 2: fund our prostate careness and you blokes here in Darwin,
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  Speaker 2: you have your own specialist prostate careness, Ruby based as
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: a Darwin hospital and she is fabulous and you can
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  Speaker 2: see her free of charge. And we have another two
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  Speaker 2: prostate cainness is that we fund through the foundation. And
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  Speaker 2: then there's me in the education role, so I'm the
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  Speaker 2: conversation person. Yeh, Ruby's the care person and the rest
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  Speaker 2: of the dollars going to research finding better ways of
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  Speaker 2: making sure we can diagnose men at an early stage.
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: And I just reckon, it's so important, you know.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: That's we organize a fun run on Father's Day obviously,
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  Speaker 1: and all that money goes to the It's a Blokes
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: Thing Foundation.
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  Speaker 3: We have the luncheon.
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  Speaker 1: I just reckon, it's so important that our blokes realize
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  Speaker 1: how important you are in our lives.
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  Speaker 3: Please look after your health.
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  Speaker 1: Please make sure you have that conversation, even if it
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: is difficult, because you mean so much to your families
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: and to everybody in the community. We don't want to
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: lose you. We want you to make sure that you're
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: looking after yourself.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: That's right. And it's difficult to get blokes to go
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: to the doctor sometimes they feel they haven't got time
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  Speaker 2: or you know, it's an inconvenience, but please just make
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: that appointment, make a date to check your prostate.
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: Know your number.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: That's the other thing. The prostate psa number. It's important
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: to know your baseline so that then if it changes,
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  Speaker 2: it will change slowly over time as you age, because
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  Speaker 2: your prostate gets bigger as you get older, and a
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: lot of blokes in their eighties don't realize that it's
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: two times the size that it was when they were
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: in their twenties and it causes urine reflow problems often.
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: But that doesn't mean you've got cancer.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: It just means you've got a benign enlargement usually. But
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  Speaker 2: the thing is no your number, so that you know
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  Speaker 2: if it's changing rapidly, and when you see any sign
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  Speaker 2: of a sudden change, it's velocity of change. That's when
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: it's important to follow that up and have some further investigations.
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  Speaker 1: And Russell, there will be blokes listening this morning who
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  Speaker 1: are thinking, oh goodness, may that's a lot of information
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  Speaker 1: to take through or to take on board. You know,
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  Speaker 1: is there somewhere where they can go to get some
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  Speaker 1: more information, or maybe there's there'd even be daughters, wives,
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  Speaker 1: mums listening right now who are thinking as well. They'd
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: like to get a bit more info, maybe for the
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  Speaker 1: men in their lives too.
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  Speaker 3: Where can people head.
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  Speaker 2: To well, my suggestion would be the Prostate Cancer Foundation
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  Speaker 2: of Australia PCFA doctor Google will show you where to
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  Speaker 2: find that quite quickly, and they have a great range
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  Speaker 2: of resources that are able to be downloaded, or you
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  Speaker 2: can ask for some hard copies to be sent to you.
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  Speaker 2: One is the do I need a PSA test? The
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  Speaker 2: next one is understanding your results, and the third one
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  Speaker 2: is more about prostate cancer. Most men I know don't
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  Speaker 2: even know where their prostate lies and they don't even
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  Speaker 2: know what it does. So there's a lot of information
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  Speaker 2: that men need to learn and take some control for
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  Speaker 2: their destiny.
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  Speaker 3: That's what we want them to do. Absolutely well, Ruth,
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  Speaker 3: it is lovely to see you.
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  Speaker 1: Lovely to catch up with you this morning, and thanks
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  Speaker 1: so much for coming on and telling all the blokes
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  Speaker 1: out there that listen to the show you know exactly
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  Speaker 1: what they need to be doing to look after themselves.
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  Speaker 3: Katie.
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  Speaker 2: We never know when we're going to save someone's life,
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  Speaker 2: and that's what I do every day try to save
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  Speaker 2: another life.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, it is very important work and I think gets
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: wonderful what you're doing.
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  Speaker 3: Ruth, thank you so much for your time this morning.
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  Speaker 3: Thanks Katie, thank you.
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  Speaker 1: That is Ruth Logan there and she's from the Zablokes
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  Speaker 1: Thing Foundation, the education program facilitator and it is such
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  Speaker 1: important work. Now, if you are after some more information, obviously,
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: you can head to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: If you want to find out more about our Father's
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: Day fund run as well, you can head to Run
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: with Dad dot com dot au