Lymph clinic set to reopen

By Tania Martin
BREAST cancer survivors will soon be able to access essential services closer to home.
After more than a three-year fight, a lymphoedema clinic is set to reopen in Lilydale’s Market Street.
The first education session will be held on Friday 7 May and the service will begin from then.
The clinic was closed in 2007 due to a lack of experienced staff to run the unit.
Yarra Ranges cancer survivor Dawn Jones led the fight to have the unit reopened.
She had been using the clinic which ran out of the Ranges Community Health Service in Lilydale and Belgrave for more than 10 years when it closed.
Following the closure in late 2007, Mrs Jones was forced to travel to East Melbourne for the specialised treatment at the Mercy Hospital.
Lymphoedema is caused by an accumulation of lymphatic fluid, which leads to swelling in the arms or legs, and is often the by-product of breast cancer.
Mrs Jones’s condition started 13 years ago after having radio therapy and chemotherapy for breast cancer.
Having had the lymph nodes under her left armpit removed, Mrs Jones soon found her arm starting to swell.
At the time, Mrs Jones had been putting her treatment off for months, hoping that the service would be reinstated.
But it was another 12 months before a service was started nearby at The Angliss hospital in Upper Ferntree Gully.
Despite the new service, Mrs Jones continued to push for more because of the growing need from women in the valley.
Last week she welcomed the move to reopen the clinic at Yarra Ranges Health in Lilydale.
Eastern Health’s chief nursing officer David Plunkett said it was positive news that people living in Melbourne’s eastern and outer-eastern areas would now have greater access to this important service.
“These new clinics will help to strengthen our ability to sustain services in our hospitals,” he said.
“Importantly, patients are able to visit a local service, avoiding the need to travel further and incur related out-of-pocket expenses.”
Mr Plunkett said early detection and management of conditions such as lymphoedema would provide better outcomes for patients.
“Having these services available in our local communities enables doctors and health professionals to refer patients to lymphoedema services in their local area,” he said. Mr Plunkett said lymphoedema was a chronic condition, with up to 1000 new patients with the cancer-related disorder each year.
Patients with the condition are usually treated with physical therapy tailored to their needs and people at high risk of developing the condition can receive preventative care.
Mrs Jones said it was great news to see the service reopen after all this time.
“It is wonderful news, as people who have this condition will benefit from advice on how to better manage it,” she said.
Eastern Health lymphoedema practitioner Maria Stirling said the new services in the east provide much needed relief for people living in the region.
“People living in the Yarra Valley and the Dandenongs no longer need to travel to the city to access services,” she said.
For more information phone Yarra Ranges Health on 9091 8888.