A COLLECTION of gowns printed with Aboriginal designs was launched on Tuesday at Ballarat Health Services and they aim to help Indigenous women feel more comfortable during a breast screen.<\/p>\n
While the region has some of the highest breast screening rates in the state for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the effort is in part to maintain and increase that level.<\/p>\n
The wraps, created by indigenous artists, are a joint initiative between Grampians BreastScreen at Ballarat Health Services and Ballarat and District Aboriginal Co-Operative.<\/p>\n
BADAC women\u2019s health nurse Sandy Anderson said Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are significantly under screened for many reasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey include negative experiences when accessing mainstream services, shame in participating in a personal woman\u2019s screening and prioritising caring responsibilities over their own health,\u201d Ms Anderson said.<\/p>\n
The design and implementation of the gowns was a result of a long-term community exercise.<\/p>\n
Vicki Pridmore, CEO of BreastScreen Victoria said the organisation is keen to see what impact the gowns have.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will monitor the participation levels of the Ballarat area\u2019s indigenous women,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
With the lessons learned from the Ballarat experience, Ms Pridmore said there was scope to expand of the program other cultural groups.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have lots of data at national level that identifies the top 10 linguistic and cultural diversities in the community who attend BreastScreen,\u201d she said. \u201cThis may be useful to assess the possibility of rolling out this type of initiative to other culturally diverse women.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new gowns are a visible symbol of the partnership between BADAC and Grampians BreastScreen Ballarat, and may help indigenous women feel culturally safe and welcomed.<\/p>\n
Each gown is labelled with the details of the artist.<\/p>\n
Kellie Phillips, in a Bambilla gown by artist Nambookah said it was absolutely gorgeous.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would make me feel a little more comfortable wearing this for my next appointment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A COLLECTION of gowns printed with Aboriginal designs was launched on Tuesday at Ballarat Health Services and they aim to help Indigenous women feel more comfortable during a breast screen. While the region has some of the highest breast screening rates in the state for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the effort is in […]<\/p>\n