Nayna Sangha knows Peel Region’s South Asian community well.
As manager of language instruction with Malton Neighbourhood Services, she has coordinated English lessons for Canadian newcomers — including those from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka — for almost 10 years.
So when the Canadian Cancer Society’s Screening Saves Lives program enlisted her to help in their efforts to reach South Asian men and women, she was happy to oblige.
“I’ve known this community for over 20 years,” Nayna says. “That was the reason I decided to sit on the program’s Community Advisory Committee.”
But Nayna had an additional, more personal reason to get involved.
“My mother had ovarian cancer,” Nayna says. “People need to be aware of cancer. Especially in our South Asian communities, they try to hide it. But the more we talk about it, the more we will go out there and get screened.”
Increasing screening rates in the region is the goal of the program, which promotes screening of breast, cervical and colorectal cancers in under- and never-screened populations in Ontario. It began in the northeastern communities of Ontario, like the Aboriginal community of Manitoulin Island; low screening rates amongst the diverse South Asian communities of Peel spurred the program’s expansion to that region.
Barriers such as patient beliefs, fears, lack of social support, the health system, and limited knowledge amongst patients and health providers prevent screening, says Anna Sangha, the Screening Saves Lives coordinator in Peel Region.
“Language barrier is a huge thing,” Nayna says. “If your doctor doesn’t speak your language, it’s a problem. Also, people just don’t have the knowledge of the different types of cancers and the services available for them to get screened. Automatically they may think there is a charge for something.”
These issues were identified by a 2011 Peel Cancer Screening study focused on the South Asian community. The study’s authors worked with Peel residents, community agencies, health service organizations and health providers in to discover what was preventing South Asian men and women from accessing mammograms, Pap tests, and fecal occult blood tests — the screening procedures for breast, cervical, and colon cancers — and what could help.
“Based on their findings, Screening Saves Lives was chosen as the intervention,” Anna says.
The South Asian-specific part of the Screening Saves Lives program is still in its early stages. Focus groups have been held with community members to help decide what type of messaging will be most effective, and Anna has been going out into the community to start the conversation about screening.
When the program gets underway next year, it will rely on community volunteers to act as ambassadors, having conversations with their peers about the importance of screening.
“It’s about talking to someone you know and who you trust in a natural setting,” Anna says. “It’s making the conversation about screening a part of everyday conversation.”
“If we can remove these barriers, people will go and get screened comfortably,” Nayna says. “They won’t have any obstacles in the way, like ‘I can’t speak English.’”
“We need to let them know that cancer screening is really important and help them get screened without feeling scared.”