The Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences recently hosted a creative, hands-on Breast Cancer event for students – showing them how to do self-checks and why early detection matters.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and the event’s main message was early detection saves lives. 

Dr Lizel Hudson, Work-Integrated Learning and Language Coordinator in the Faculty, said the initiative was driven by students for students, with Nursing Science and Medical Imaging and Therapeutic Sciences students taking the lead.

“The amazing team from Nursing Science said they wanted to do something for the students — to create not only awareness about breast cancer, but also to teach them how to do a breast self-examination. It’s a powerful tool that is often neglected. We wanted to show them what to look out for and why it’s important,” she explained.

At the HIV/AIDS Unit, students could participate in demonstrations to learn the correct technique for performing a breast self-examination and conduct their own examinations.

One of the highlights of the event was the creative use of sweets with different textures to help explain the differences between normal and abnormal breast tissue.

“Tumours come in all shapes and sizes, but this gave students something tangible and sensory to remember: if it feels like the hard sweet, get it checked.”

Hudson thanked the Faculty leadership, CANSA, the Nursing Science Department, and the students for their support.

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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Medical Imaging and Therapeutic Sciences students marked World Cancer Day by raising awareness about the Big C among their peers.

Third-year Radiation Therapy students used balloons, body paint and sweets in different colours to educate their fellow students on the Bellville campus about the different types of cancer.
February 4 marks World Cancer Day, a global awareness-raising initiative by the Union for International Cancer Control.

The students designed and displayed a poster with all the different types of cancers and the colours that represent each type.
Staff and students could place messages to family members affected by cancer in glass jars.

“The planning and the implementation for today’s event was all the work of the students. We registered our event on the map of impact of worldcancerday.org [the map curates all of the activities that took place around the world for World Cancer Day], “said Lizel Hudson, Work-Integrated Learning and Language Coordinator for the Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences

Written by Ilse Fredericks

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CPUT Libraries recently hosted a series of events to raise awareness about breast cancer.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, an annual campaign during which various health and other structures raise awareness of the disease.

Staff and students were given the opportunity to learn about the importance of early detection, treatments and care available as well as services available on the various campuses via CPUT Health Clinics.

CPUT Libraries held awareness drives at Tygerberg Campus, Mowbray Campus, Wellington Campus, Granger Bay Campus, District Six Campus and Bellville Campus.

At the Bellville Campus event, the last in the series, attendees were welcomed by Senior Library Assistant, Ncumisa Njecana, whereafter, Barennise Arries, Lecturer in the Department of Nursing Science delivered a talk titled: Cancer journey of a loved one – my support.

Georgell van Wyk, Lecturer in the Department of Medical Imaging and Therapeutic Sciences, spoke about the barriers experienced by patients during mammography screening. A group of students from the Department of Nursing Science delivered a presentation, which included information on the causes of breast cancer.

Dr Bronwyn Swartz, Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, shared her personal journey with breast cancer.

“I would promote that you go and get your regular check-ups. We can’t control our circumstances, the stuff that happens around us, but we can control going for our check-ups,” Swartz said.

During the awareness drive on the other campuses there were a series of activities including presentations from speakers who are breast cancer survivors.

CPUT Libraries thanked the Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences, CPUT Health Clinics and all participating departments for their support.

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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