How can a small island like St. Martin fight breast cancer?



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PHILIPSBURG – The pink month of October is devoted to breast cancer. Likewise on St. Martin. Becoming a conscious breast is the goal. 28 medical centers on the island offer the possibility of a free preventive control.

An important question that prevails is: Is Sint-Maarten sufficiently equipped medically to fight breast cancer? Patients must travel regularly to countries such as Guadeloupe, Santa Domingo, Colombia or the Netherlands.

The text continues after the video

By Tim van Dijk and Marcia van Oers

The general director Kees Klarenbeek of the Sint Maarten Medical Center (SMMC): "We have designed the plan of use of the tools diagnostics related to optimizing mammography research.This means that we intend to invest in a new mammogram, with which we can very accurately detect a very small tumor.Staff must also be trained for this. , we are releasing funds to finance these courses, in a much larger volume than in the past. "

Chemotherapy in Sint Maarten, radiotherapy in Curaçao
Marcellina Loblack is a breast cancer & # 39; survivor and founder of the Still Beautiful Foundation, which has asked for support and support groups in life, in which one can go if breast cancer is detected. "I had chemotherapy in Sint Maarten, but radiation therapy in Curacao because it's not yet possible in Sint Maarten," Loblack said. She believes that in recent years many improvements have been made to health care, such as the one-year reconstruction procedure. "But in the field of" BRA "tests, this can still be better!

And even the follow-up can not be forgotten. Marcellina: "A support group is needed to help you with your daily activities and to help you and your family cope with the situation."

On October 5th, the 'Pink Parade & # 39; it's held in Sint Maarten, the neighboring island of Statia. was represented. Photo: Marcia van Oers

Free Mammography
The SMMC offers breast cancer research and 100 free mammograms. "If it becomes more, we also encourage it.In fact, everyone can enter the afternoon and receive a voucher through the Positive Foundation, which organizes, among other things, research on the breast cancer, "said Klarenbeek.

The SMMC is also collaborating with a Dutch university hospital to better fight breast cancer, according to Medical Director Felix Holiday of the SMMC: "We collaborate with different specialty doctors in the Netherlands and they can also help to provide better care in the field of breast cancer. "

The future of care in Sint-Maarten

Kees Klarenbeek wishes to propose in the future an integrated care package in which the" care "is provided. The importance of the patient is at the forefront and does not need to be between different parties, such as a general practitioner, hospital or insurance company.

"The patient then comes to us for a diagnosis.If our hospital concludes that we can not provide some care to a patient, we look at the other hospitals with which agreements exist, in which the best care can be provided. We would then like our medical specialist to remain responsible for the basic management, with the specialist doctor of the other hospital.If this care is granted, the patient comes back and we continue the qualitative care here. as the caregiver. "

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