An association for patients in Saint-Martin to return soon

MARIGOT: During the Pink October event at the Constant Fleming Hospital last Tuesday, the association Amazones Guadeloupe was present to participate in the awareness, prevention, and information campaign on breast cancer.

Thanks to Rachel Begarin, beautician and nurse, two representatives of Amazones Guadeloupe, Carina Guillaume, president, and Erika Jacoby, volunteer, came to St. Maarten to lend their expertise in the prevention and screening of breast cancer.

This association, created in July 2019, accompanies women who have undergone or are in remission of cancer as well as their loved ones and also to raise awareness, and inform about cancer in women in Guadeloupe and the overseas territories. For Dr. Marie Laruelle, head of the oncology department of the Louis Constant Fleming Hospital, the presence of these two women is a wonderful opportunity to discuss together the creation of an association for patients on the territory of St. Martin. In addition to our morning well-being of Pink October, Carina and Erika have also come with the idea of helping us to build a patient association on the island, it is not yet active at the moment but it is part of the major projects we would like to set up in the coming months. Before the passage of Hurricane Irma, there was indeed on the territory a patient association that was represented by the League against Cancer, but the premises of the association on the waterfront in Marigot were destroyed by the passage of the cyclone.

A good part of the representatives of the association went back to the mainland, and the association ran out of steam and eventually disappeared. Since then, the Ligue contre le cancer is not represented in Saint-Martin, nor is the Karukéra Onco network (Regional Cancer Network of Guadeloupe to which Saint-Martin is attached). Since then, there is no patient association, no place where patients can talk and exchange ideas, or receive information on all aspects of cancer treatment. This problem is at the heart of the priorities of the hospital’s oncology department. According to Dr. Marie Laruelle, “many patients in remission are eager to get involved and to set up an association. It is in this perspective that Amazones Guadeloupe will accompany the oncology department to set up our patient association managed and represented by the patients.

To learn more about the work and actions of Amazones Guadeloupe:

https://www.facebook.com/amazonesguadeloupe/

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