October is a month of active actions for the prevention of breast cancer. That is why in the city of Khmelnytskyi, the employees of the regional representative office implemented an event for students of the Khmelnytskyi Basic Medical College according to the methodological developments provided by the management of the VZHEO “Project Kesher”. The target audience was chosen for a reason: the vast majority of the contingent of this educational institution are girls who in the future will become not only nurses and midwives, but also mothers. This means that the information that employees and volunteers brought to them is twice as useful for them.
The event was held in the college auditorium. Students from three groups, 48 people, came to meet the guests, as expected - in white coats and caps. Among the students were several boys who also received handout calendars on women's health. And although the boys do not have the opportunity to use them for themselves, such a useful thing can always be given to a mother or friend who was not present at the event. Together with the students, their teachers and the head of the educational work department of the college, Alina Zvezdyuk, also came.
The head of the Khmelnytskyi branch of the Kesher Project, Iryna Gerasymeniuk, spoke to the audience. She spoke about the organization’s work, its goals and mission, shared information about the events, and updated the main topic of today’s meeting – the issue of breast cancer and ways to prevent it. Since the event had a station format, the second speaker was Nataliya Gerasymenko, an activist of the Kesher Project Women’s Group. Her speeches are always emotional and passionate, and her examples are simple and understandable for women of any age. And already well prepared for the active part of the event, the students began to watch the stations prepared by volunteers of the All-Ukrainian Volunteer Network “Community”, who were happy to take part in the noble initiative of the Kesher Project.
At the “Healthy Photo Studio” station, students could take pictures with motivational signs in their hands and discuss with volunteers the importance of the statements placed on them. The photos that emerged after visiting the station will replenish the “Prektu Kesher” photo gallery, and will also remain as a keepsake for college students so that the written line will remain in the memory of young people who have taken on the responsibility of fulfilling these promises for a long time. The “Information and Advisory Zone” station revealed the issues of breast disease and self-examination methods, using video materials created in our representative office by participants of the “Kesher Hadash” youth wing. In addition to viewing, students were given the opportunity to discuss what they saw and assess the importance of social advertising in the process of promoting a healthy lifestyle.
Additionally, a "Paperclip" class was added to all stations, which was conducted by an employee of the ORT-Keshernet CC, as well as the head of the representative office of the All-Ukrainian volunteer network "Community" Vyacheslav Nagnybida. It illustrated how quickly one can lose health with an unhealthy lifestyle and how difficult (or, more precisely, impossible) it is to restore it to its original form.
I would like to express my special thanks to the Association for the Fight against AIDS "Victoria", which provided us with funds for contraception for mass distribution to the participants of the event. And, of course, many thanks to the head of the department "Position of Women in Society" and the program "Women's Health" Marina Konstantinova for providing the author's methods for conducting the event and women's calendars for distribution. Through joint efforts, today has become productive in the field of informing the public about a terrible disease and methods of its prevention. And this is someone's life saved!
