{"id":570914,"date":"2026-07-06T03:25:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T03:25:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/570914\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T03:25:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T03:25:17","slug":"new-cancer-care-program-empowers-yarrabah-residents-undergoing-treatment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/570914\/","title":{"rendered":"New cancer care program empowers Yarrabah residents undergoing treatment"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Yarrabah is about an hour from Cairns, where Mr Costello temporarily relocated to while receiving treatment.<\/p>\n

But the Aboriginal community of 2,500 people was the centre of his support network.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Yarrabah (left), is a 50-minute drive from Cairns (right) but is one of Australia’s most socio-economically disadvantaged communities. (ABC Far North: Bridget Herrmann)<\/p>\n

“A lot of people care in Yarrabah,” Mr Costello said.<\/p>\n

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

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Chanten Lefoe says the program helps carry the burden of a cancer diagnosis. (ABC Far North: Bridget Herrmann)<\/p>\n

“It’s like a sense of calling, coming back home,” he said.<\/p>\n

“What [community] gave to me when I was growing up, now I’m giving back.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

His job varies day-to-day, but involves driving patients to appointments, translating medical jargon, supporting patients’ relatives and having conversations about health.<\/p>\n

“Some of my people, they didn’t grow up in a great education, and they don’t like to travel that much,” he said.<\/p>\n

“So, they can just do everything from here, and we can \u2026 be a delegated voice for them.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Chanten Lefoe checking in on cancer patient Joanne at her Yarrabah home. (ABC Far North: Bridget Herrmann)<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

“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.<\/p>\n

NAIDOC Week 2026: 50 Years of Deadly<\/a><\/p>\n

The ABC has gathered the best First Nations films, TV shows and documentaries to enjoy during NAIDOC Week.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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”.<\/p>\n

“For the people of Yarrabah, having an opportunity to have \u2026 not just a say but to carry out the care of their own people is incredibly powerful,” he said.<\/p>\n

The program also has a health promotion aspect, aimed at preventing cancer through culturally safe education.<\/p>\n

“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.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Yarrabah has unique health challenges driven by factors like overcrowded housing. (ABC News: Billy Cooper)<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

“We talk about demographics and we talk about epidemiology, but cultural safety is a core layer of that,” he said.<\/p>\n

“A different experience of history, of government programs and racism, for example, leads directly to different outcomes in health.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Jason King says cultural safety is important for providing clinically safe care. (ABC Far North: Brendan Mounter)<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

He said federal and state governments were increasingly looking to local solutions to address challenges in health.<\/p>\n

Now a cancer survivor, Mr Costello is encouraged the new program may help others.<\/p>\n

“There’s a lot of people here who are good at making decisions,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Yarrabah knows what they need for health care.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Colin Costello was undergoing cancer treatment, he would leave his home community in Far North Queensland for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":570915,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[275],"tags":[110,243363,243362,243361,243358,18,86935,73245,135,475,474,19,17,243360,243359],"class_list":["post-570914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-cancer","tag-cancer-care-in-yarrabah","tag-chanten-lefoe","tag-colin-costello","tag-cultural-safety","tag-eire","tag-far-north-queensland","tag-first-nations","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jason-king","tag-naccho"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116870901705642163","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=570914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/570915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}