November 12, 2009

Her Health Is Our Aim:
Bethlehem University hosts breast cancer training of trainers workshop

Bethlehem University, with the US-Middle East Partnership for Breast Cancer Awareness and Research and the Oncology Nursing Society, launched a 3-day pilot training workshop highlighting the role of nurses in the prevention and early detection of breast cancer. Held Monday, 2 November, through Wednesday, 4 November, the workshop explored ways nurses can empower patients to detect breast cancer early, encouraging participants to train other nurses and their patients in self breast examination techniques.

Breast cancer “is the most frequent type of cancer worldwide effecting women, it is the most common malignancy, and it is the second leading cause of death in Palestine,” says Mariam Samara-Awad,  lecturer in Nursing and Health Sciences at Bethlehem University, workshop coordinator and member of
the US-Middle East Partnership for Breast Cancer Awareness and Research advisory planning committee. And, notes Brother Robert Smith, Bethlehem University Vice President for Academic Affairs, it is “the worst fear and the worst phrase to speak or hear.”

Yet it’s a cause death that is preventable, Samara-Awad explains, since some 30% of breast cancer deaths could be prevented through early detection of the disease, and therein lies the importance of this workshop. It is only the beginning, though, says Amal Abu Nijmeh, Dean of Nursing at Bethlehem
University, and further workshops are needed in Palestine. 

This pilot training of trainers  program, established in collaboration with nurses throughout the Middle East and North Africa region and with the Oncology Nursing society, was designed to help Palestinian  nurses and lecturers improve early detection, diagnosis and treatment for breast cancer patients. ONS and US-Middle East Partnership representatives have been working with the advisory planning committee from Palestine and the region to make training content applicable to the Palestinian nurses .ONS was established on 1981 to enhance the quality of cancer nursing and care. The US-Middle East Partnership for Breast Cancer Awareness and Research includes women’s organizations, medical institutions, hospitals and other partner organizations working to create links between women’s health advocates and professionals in the US and the Middle East North Africa region. Initial US-Middle East Partnership programs in the West Bank and Gaza include patient care and oncology nursing training.

Nurses and  lecturers from all over the West Bank attended the workshop at Bethlehem University, as did their Gaza colleagues, who participated via videoconference. By targeting nurses rather than individual patients, workshop organizers believe they can reach more women: “Patients can help a
few people only. Nurses interact with more people. Therefore they can help more people, and that’s why we have to focus on nurses,” says Kate Shaughnessy, ONS Member Relations Manager. Nurses work closely with their patients, continues Brother Robert, and “their role is unbelievably important to these women’s lives, their families and society. Nursing is not only a job, it is vocational.”