ANZGOG is excited to announce that Dr Helen Gooden, National Manager of the Survivors Teaching Students program, has been nominated as a Westfield Local Hero and selected as a top six finalist for Westfield Sydney.
Dr Helen Gooden, National Manager of Survivors Teaching Students
The Westfield Local Heroes program recognises, celebrates and rewards community role models whose work creates a positive benefit for others. Three winners will be awarded a $10,000 grant for their affiliated organisation to continue their inspiring work.
Community votes will determine the winners, and we encourage ANZGOG supporters to get behind Helen’s nomination by voting here.
If Helen is successful, Survivors Teaching Students will use the $10,000 grant to develop a podcast series to extend its reach further and raise awareness about gynaecological cancers in the broader community.
Voting will close on Monday 30 August.
Helen has been integral to the establishment of ANZGOG’s Survivors Teaching Students program, which has now reached over 5000 university students across Australia since its commencement in 2017.
Survivors Teaching Students is a volunteer program that brings ovarian and gynaecological cancer survivors and their carers into the classrooms of medical, nursing and allied health students to share their experiences of symptoms, diagnosis and treatment, and provide key information on these diseases.
Helen is honoured to be nominated as a Westfield Local Hero.
“I am humbled to work with such an amazing team of volunteers and am enormously proud of the work they do,” she said.
“This nomination is for each and every one of our volunteers who so generously share their very personal stories with our health professionals in training to improve both the journey and outcomes for women diagnosed with ovarian or other gynaecological cancers in the future.”
Survivors, through their own personal experiences, are in a unique position to help students become more sensitive to the risks and symptoms of ovarian and gynaecological cancers so that when they go into practice, they can diagnose women sooner and save lives.
The experiential learning program has achieved wonderful results in increasing student understanding of the illness experience and the importance of good health communication.
Vote for Helen and the Survivors Teaching Students program.
For more information on Survivors Teaching Students, click here.
