Program

Listen to the Whispers

An educational program for women to raise awareness about ovarian cancer.

Each year 2,400 women are diagnosed in Canada with ovarian cancer. Each year 1,700 women die from ovarian cancer. It is often called "the disease that whispers" due to the vagueness of the signs and symptoms which accompany it. There is no single detection test for ovarian cancer. Education and awareness are the best tools for improving survival.

A 50-minute education program directed at well women is available by completing the online information form request. The program is ideal for lunch hour workplace session or an evening session. It is ideally suited for large or small groups or at wellness fairs. Posters to advertise the program will be made available to the sponsoring group. The education program consists of a 24-minute video, overheads to support the message in the video and printed information for those who attend the session. If requested, a woman living with ovarian cancer will share her story.

Help raise awareness about ovarian cancer by bringing Listen to the Whispers to women in your community.

Survivors Teaching Students and Medical Staff (STS)

STS achieves its goal by bringing ovarian cancer survivors into the classrooms of health professional students to share their stories and key information on the disease. The program is currently offered to a variety of medical and health professional students - our future diagnosticians, including medical students, nurse practitioner students and nursing students.

  • Presentation is about one hour.
  • Typically includes three presenters who are ovarian cancer survivors from different backgrounds and experiences; from early stage to late stage.
  • Facilitator will provide a brief introduction then each presenter will tell her story; illustrating difficulty of early diagnosis and what happened to her as a result. The survivor´s story puts a face and voice to the disease, a powerful tool in increasing students´ understanding.
  • Students gain insights into listening to patient concerns and become sensitized to the psychosocial assets of ovarian cancer as well as the need for early detection.
  • After the presentations, a dialogue is opened between the presenters and the students, and the students to enable direct and substantive interaction.
  • Students are also given a brief pre- and post-test to assess their understanding of the disease and the value of the presentation.
  • The presentation is delivered free of charge to health professional schools.
  • Certain aspects of the presentation may be adapted to best serve the students and schools.