A three-year study is about to begin involving cancer surveillance systems in Saskatchewan, particularly those used by Aboriginal organizations.
The English River First Nation and Ochapowace First Nation are participating in a project designed to address cancer rates within the Aboriginal Community.
The Saskatchewan Cancer Agency is trying to get a better understanding of what surveillance programs are working within the community.
The agency’s Riaz Alvi says they also want to create culturally, sensitive strategies of their own.
He admits there is a large amount of data to go through:
“To be honest a lot of the work will be trying to figure out what exact information that they collect, how we can link it to the information that we currently have. That could take up to a year just to do those investigations to figure out how this would work.”
The point of the project, he explains, is to track outcomes, evaluate programs and see how effective different systems are working for Aboriginal patients:
“We feel that we need to see what the needs are. This is a way to look at the needs and plan.”
Saskatchewan is one of nine jurisdictions working to improve the quality of the cancer journey for Aboriginal people.
The Battleford’s Tribal Council is also lending its hand as well.