New Cancer Support Program Launched in Yarrabah to Improve Cultural Safety for Indigenous Patients

When Colin Costello was undergoing cancer treatment, he would leave his home community in Far North Queensland for seven months at a time.

Yarrabah is about an hour from Cairns, where Mr Costello temporarily relocated to while receiving treatment.

But the Aboriginal community of 2,500 people was the centre of his support network.

"A lot of people care in Yarrabah," Mr Costello said.

A new community-run program has rolled out in Yarrabah that was not available when Mr Costello was treated for his illness in 2018.

Aimed at improving cultural safety for Indigenous cancer patients, it is hoped the new cancer support program will make life easier for Yarrabah residents facing a cancer diagnosis and help prevent others from developing the disease.

Chanten Lefoe has returned to live in Yarrabah after 15 years away to take up a role as one of two new local cancer care support officers.

"It's like a sense of calling, coming back home," he said.

His job varies day-to-day, but involves driving patients to appointments, translating medical jargon, supporting patients' relatives and having conversations about health.

"Some of my people, they didn't grow up in a great education, and they don't like to travel that much," he said.

"So, they can just do everything from here, and we can … be a delegated voice for them."

Tailored care also means making the nearly hour-long journey to Cairns more useful for patients, aligning it so they can get grocery shopping and errands done too.

"It's also about if they want to go down the beach for 15 minutes if they're dying of boredom, not dying from their diagnosis," Mr Lefoe said.

The community-led Gurriny Yealamucka Health Services Aboriginal Corporation (GYHSAC) is delivering the $2.3 million program, funded by the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation.

GYHSAC head of clinical services Jason King said the program, which began in April, would change the way Yarrabah residents "interact and live with cancer in the community".

"For the people of Yarrabah, having an opportunity to have … not just a say but to carry out the care of their own people is incredibly powerful," he said.

The program also has a health promotion aspect, aimed at preventing cancer through culturally safe education.

"It's a reality for people who live here that you get sick, you go to the hospital, and sometimes, you don't come back," the clinician said.

Dr King said many Yarrabah residents had a long-standing fear of the health system, which could lead to cancers being detected later than necessary.

"We talk about demographics and we talk about epidemiology, but cultural safety is a core layer of that," he said.

Yarrabah is ranked by the Australian Bureau of Statistics as the nation's fifth most socio-economically disadvantaged local government area based on 2021 Census data.

The 10 most-disadvantaged council areas are all located in regional to very remote parts of Queensland or the Northern Territory, with majority First Nations populations.

Dr King said disadvantage was a root cause behind about 80 per cent of presentations to Yarrabah's clinic, making community-led health care even more important.

He said federal and state governments were increasingly looking to local solutions to address challenges in health.

Now a cancer survivor, Mr Costello is encouraged the new program may help others.

"There's a lot of people here who are good at making decisions," he said.