Latest / Lisa & Russell / Susan Greenwood Breast Care WA

Transcript

Susan Greenwood Breast Care WA · Lisa & Russell

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So this time last year, I did my first mammogram,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: something I'd been putting off for years. So one year
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: on with that and with our mate Judith Lucy's news
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: about her diagnosis, we figured it's time for a reminder.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Susan Greenwood from BreastScreenWA is with us. Susan is the
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  Speaker 1: supervising medical imaging technologist at BreastScreenWA. She knows me intimately.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: We have met because we did.
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  Speaker 2: This last year.
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  Speaker 3: I'm with you every day, but Susan.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Still knows you much better than I do. Susan, thank
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  Speaker 2: you for coming in. Morning, Susan.
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  Speaker 4: Thank you so much for welcoming us back.
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  Speaker 1: Once again, it's such an important thing, getting your bits checked.
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  Speaker 2: It's so important. A lot of women do put it off.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: This is what I went through off booking a mammogram
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: because they're just unsure what to expect.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: And then it gets to that.
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  Speaker 1: Stage where you get embarrassed because you've let so much
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: time elapse.
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  Speaker 2: Don't be.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Walk us through, Susan, what actually happens when someone arrives
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: for their appointment.
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  Speaker 4: From the moment you arrive, our receptionist is going to
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: greet you. She's going to identify you and give you
• 1:03
  Speaker 4: some paperwork. You fill that out. And then we take
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: you through to get changed. The radiographer will take you
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  Speaker 4: from your change rooms in, explain the examination for you,
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  Speaker 4: do the examination, and you walk out.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: 15 minutes. Exactly.
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  Speaker 3: I guess the most important thing is right from the
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  Speaker 3: moment when you walk in and you meet the receptionist,
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  Speaker 3: it's all about making you feel comfortable and taking away
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  Speaker 3: that fear.
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  Speaker 4: Exactly. Comfortable and respectful. And we do everything we can
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  Speaker 4: to make it right for you. Everyone is different in
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: terms of how they feel about this kind of exam.
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: And this is all we do. We just keep women
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: comfortable and coming back to us.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: And as you said, 15 minutes, you're in, you're out.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: That's a lot of people are not too sure how
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: long it will take because Quite often when you go
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: for an appointment of some medical type, you've got to
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: put aside a whole half a day or something.
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  Speaker 2: It's really very, very easy.
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  Speaker 1: And why is regular screening so important, particularly for women
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  Speaker 1: aged 50 to 74?
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  Speaker 4: Regular screening is all about finding a problem in your
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: breast before you or your GP could find it. That
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  Speaker 4: means treatment is less. You get back to your normal
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: life so much faster and so much more successful.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
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  Speaker 3: You guys are able to see things that you might
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: not pick up yourself and that just a simple visit
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  Speaker 3: to the GP might not pick up.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: That's exactly true.
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  Speaker 3: But it's beginning.
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  Speaker 4: From the size of about half of a grain of rice,
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  Speaker 4: we can spot it. No one can find that in
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: their breasts. If you're bustier like me, it's quite big.
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: But otherwise, on an X-ray, we find it super quickly.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we watch these things on TV and movies and
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  Speaker 1: stuff and a woman goes, oh, I found a lump
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  Speaker 1: in my breast.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: It doesn't always work that way.
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  Speaker 1: I imagine that it's not the majority of ways that
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  Speaker 1: we find out, is it? Like people coming in saying,
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  Speaker 1: I found a lump.
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: If you're screening, hopefully we find it at the time
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  Speaker 4: of screening, not by the time you feel it. By
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  Speaker 4: the time you feel it, it's quite a bit bigger.
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  Speaker 3: And the good thing is too, is that finding it
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  Speaker 3: nice and early then can, or maybe there's nothing at
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: all and it puts your mind at rest and then
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: it stops the fear from going back next time. and
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: having yourself checked again. So it really is a, it's
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: just a great idea to just break through that fear
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  Speaker 3: barrier and just do it.
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: Our big code is once is not enough.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: Camp screening at the intervals we recommend every two years
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  Speaker 4: and know that you're doing everything that you can for
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  Speaker 4: yourself to stay healthy and to find things if they develop.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: But I think once you go once, I mean, just
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  Speaker 1: speaking from my own personal feeling on it, I have
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: no problem now with, you know, going.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: Back every couple of years.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: So- I think you've just got to, it's like, can
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  Speaker 1: be like when you have a fear of the dentist,
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: breaking through that initial barrier, things have changed.
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: Putting it off and putting it off.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: BreastScreen WA has performed more than 3 million screenings across WA.
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  Speaker 2: That's a lot of boobs.
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  Speaker 3: They've, they know what they're doing. That's plenty of practice.
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  Speaker 2: So what does that tell us about the, you know,
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  Speaker 2: success of the program?
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  Speaker 4: It says that for women who come in and screen
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  Speaker 4: with us every two years, they have such a higher
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  Speaker 4: rate of knowing that they're safe and not having that worry.
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: And also, if something is found, having it dealt with
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  Speaker 4: quickly and efficiently.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: Well, for anyone listening this morning who's thinking, I know
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  Speaker 1: I'm due or perhaps overdue for a mammogram, what is
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  Speaker 1: the message you most want.
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  Speaker 2: Them to hear today?
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  Speaker 4: Contact BreastScreen. Find a time that works for you for
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  Speaker 4: an appointment. And book that in. Set, forget, put it
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: in your diary. We remind you by email, by text.
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: If it doesn't work, rebook it.
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  Speaker 2: We don't mind. All right, you won't look back.
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: Some very good and timely advice there from Susan Greenwood
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  Speaker 3: from Breast Care WA. If you would like to get
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  Speaker 3: some more information, just head to their website, breastcancer.org.au, or
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: you can email them, info at breastcancer.org.au.