Phoebe Ongadi, Public Health Advocate at the Kenyan Network of Cancer Organizations, shared on LinkedIn:
“I was honored to speak at the 12th Oncology Nurses’ Annual Scientific Conference & AGM on Advocacy Across the Breast Cancer Continuum.
As I reflect on the conference, one message stands out strongly:
Nursing is central to cancer care and nurses are powerful advocates for change and super patient navigators.
Oncology nurses are uniquely positioned to influence the cancer care journey. They encounter the patients first at triage. They sit at the bedside. They listen to patients’ stories firsthand.
They see the fear, the delays, the treatment interruptions, the financial burden, the transport challenges and the moments when patients are forced to choose between cancer care and the realities of everyday life.
They experience what ‘the system‘ really means to a patient.
That is why I believe nurses should not only be seen as health care workers, but also as advocates with powerful tools already in their hands.
A recurring patient story can become evidence.
Evidence can become an advocacy demand.
An advocacy demand can reach a decision-maker.
A commitment can become implementation.
As I shared during the conference, advocacy should follow the patient and it must not stop at diagnosis. It should extend from awareness and early detection to diagnosis, treatment, navigation, survivorship and palliative care.
To every oncology nurse: your proximity to the patient is not just a clinical responsibility; it is an advocacy opportunity.
Take the patient story beyond the bedside.
Turn what you witness into evidence.
Turn evidence into action.
And turn action into better cancer care.
No single profession can deliver the cancer journey alone; but most definitely nursing constitutes part of the care continuum backbone. They are the bridge between the science of treatment and humanity.
Congratulations once more to the Oncology Nurses Society of Kenya for a successful and impactful 12th annual scientific conference.”
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