00:00Cancer does not wait, but some patients in Trinidad and Tobago are being forced to.
00:06I think we've reached a crisis point as it pertains to cancer management in Trinidad
00:11and Tobago and I'm saying this because of the number of persons that have fed back to
00:17me and the challenges that they are currently experiencing as it pertains to obtaining some
00:22of their drugs, as it pertains to the timeline between when they would have taken a test,
00:28a scan and when they receive the results for the scan, in some instances it's as difficult
00:35as having to wait almost one year for a scanner.
00:39Cancer survivor, former registered nurse and beauty queen Nicole Dyer Griffith says when
00:44dealing with cancer, those delays are far from insignificant. The concern is being compounded
00:51by reports of difficulties obtaining some medications.
00:54After that experience, I opened something called the Healing Hub, which is an online
00:59cancer support group. We have over 160 something persons and this is where a lot of the real
01:05lived experience comes to me from.
01:07Among the concerns being raised is access to Faslodex as well as reagents needed for blood
01:13testing.
01:14The continued management, one of the medications you have to take is called Zomita. It is an
01:20intravenous infusion that you take like every six months and that is to maintain your bone
01:24health so that you may not get osteoporosis. So it's a lifelong process of management if
01:29you get over the hurdle.
01:30She says that long-term management can bring its own frustrations including waiting for
01:35treatment or finding that medication is unavailable.
01:38Many persons, this lifelong process of management also proves to be challenging because when you
01:43go to get a continued treatment, you either have to wait extensive periods or you may not
01:48have the drugs or so. So it is a challenge. And you know, when you put having to manage
01:54cancer, those people who are currently managing, people who may have managed, and then you pile
01:58on anxiety on top of that. You pile on waiting without any results on top of that. You pile on
02:04the
02:05added stress on top of that. It's not fair.
02:07But this is not a call for finger pointing.
02:10Yes, there are challenges from an institutional perspective. Let's hear what the challenges
02:15are and see how we can surmount them. There are definite challenges for persons with the
02:21lived experience. How about we bring everyone around the table and have a conversation and
02:26meet halfway so that I can understand your perspective, you understand mine, and then we come up with
02:30workable solutions.
02:31Daya Griffith wants the proposed discussion to go beyond another policy document toward
02:36concrete improvements in how patients move through the cancer care system.
02:42Cancer right now, I believe, is one of the top three reasons for mortality rates in Trinidad and
02:49Tobago. It's one of the top three. Yeah. So that knowing that, let's put some emphasis on it,
02:53put a spotlight on it, and let's see how we can come up with a win-win scenario for all
02:58of us involved.
02:58She tells us she's already reached out to the Minister of Health who responded and indicated the matter is
03:04being considered. Her own experience, she says, is proof that the disease cannot always be reduced to lifestyle choices.
03:13I do not smoke. I do not drink. I exercise daily. I eat right. I do everything you are physiologically
03:21advised to do. I do testing every year. I do everything that they tell you to do. And bam, I
03:27still ended up with breast cancer and then metastasized to brain cancer. So sometimes cancer could be sporadic.
03:32She wants newly diagnosed patients to have somewhere to tune for guidance.
03:37But my ultimate dream, as you mentioned, is to have a brick and mortar patient navigation and advocacy center in
03:42Trinidad and Tobago. And I'm hoping that at some point, any power that be would recognize that we need to
03:48have a patient navigation and advocacy center, not only in Trinidad and Tobago, but in the region, so that when
03:53patients are newly diagnosed, they can attend that center and be advised, provided with a cancer management map, so you
04:00wouldn't be lost and confused and to fall into an emotional vortex, as so many tend to do.
04:04The message is clear. Cancer care cannot afford unnecessary delays, because for someone living with cancer, time is not just
04:14a statistic. It is critical.
