Busted x Know Your Lemons Workshops in Italy
Busted has recently had its debut in the North of Italy! Come along with us as we tour the workshops Eva and her team did and how they went.
Eva
Although Eva from Busted is half-Belgian, half-Canadian, she was born and raised in the North of Italy. This is also where she decided to do an educational Busted x Know Your Lemons campaign, as a trained Lemonista from the Know Your Lemons Foundation! Eva and the Busted team focused both on local Italian inhabitants and employees of a large research centre of the European Commission, where Eva was following a clinical internship as part of her medical studies.
The campaign consisted of 5 educational workshops and a breast cancer awareness event in collaboration with the Disease Prevention Unit of the European Commission. This was done in different locations to reach a large and varying population; 2 workshops in collaboration with the municipality of Ranco, 2 workshops at the European School of Varese and 1 workshop inside a local lingerie shop.
Ranco, Italy
Working together with the Municipality of Ranco, a small town at Lago Maggiore, they organised two workshops to reach local women from the community and the surrounding towns. They had two lovely groups of ladies of all different ages that were eager to learn more about breast cancer. After the workshops there was a small aperitivo (an italian tradition consisting of refreshments and snacks), which allowed them to get to know the participants better, letting the information sink in, answering any questions that popped up. There were a few women that had a potential symptom and they were motivated to go to the doctor for a further check up.
Eva teaching with the Know Your Lemons visual: different positions to self-exam
Sesto Calende, Italy
Busted was invited to give a breast cancer awareness workshop inside a small local lingerie shop. It was such a nice intimate setting, and the workshop was open to a group of local Italian women.
They started off with a small aperitivo, which created a very comfortable environment and again led to a better understanding of the women’s own stories. Then they set up a screen inside the shop for the workshop. During the presentation the women were very actively participating, asking lots of questions and many shared their experiences with the topic. This not only helped with the education aspect but also created a sense of connection and support. It was a wonderful evening. Here is what Eva had to say after this training:
“The word “cancer” itself is very frightening for many, and many women haven't learned how to do a self-checkup out of fear. This is why we believe that, next to the informative aspect of our workshops, it is very important to start the discussion on breast cancer and create a comfortable space to talk about it, open to everyone. In this way we can try to diminish the fear and taboo that surrounds the topic, which in itself is a crucial limitation to awareness and to women seeking help. We focus on empowering participants to get to know their own body, take an active role in their own well-being and make them feel confident performing monthly self-checkups.”
Varese, Italy
Eva educating about when to self-exam using Know Your Lemons visual.
They saw a clear example of this during the workshops at a high school. Wanting to reach a younger population, they gave two workshops at the European School of Varese (Eva’s former high school) to a large group of girls aged 14-15 years. The girls were quite shy at first, both embarrassed and worried about the topic of breast health and cancer. Anticipating this, Eva and her team tailored the session to cover breast development and normal anatomy, taking time to talk about the aim of the self-checkups not being the search for cancer, but a form of self-awareness and care. This workshop was more interactive, using the balloons for hands-on practice and making a small personal “breast cancer awareness magazine” that summarized the important information and had different creative tasks. This was designed in collaboration with a talented artist in Maastricht.
“We were very happily surprised with the interest and enthusiasm received from the girls from the workshop,” reported Eva.
Ispra, Italy
And lastly, Busted had an amazing collaboration with the Disease Prevention Unit and the Healthcare Quality Group at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in Ispra, Italy. Eva taught about 400 JRC employees, of different ages, backgrounds and genders, about breast cancer, signs and symptoms, risk factors and most importantly how to perform a monthly self-checkup. It was really great to see so many people being interested and eager to learn more about this topic.
The Disease Prevention Unit shared their Breast Cancer statistics of the EU and talked about their recent publication on screening and diagnostic guideline recommendations. It was a very valuable contribution and an incredible collaboration!
What’s Next?
Busted is hoping to continue doing more workshops abroad (with lots of future workshops already scheduled!), and broadening our participants' population in order to reach people of any age, background and gender. An increased awareness is crucial for early detection and better treatment outcomes, and we are incredibly grateful to be a part of this.
Want to be like Eva? See how you can be a force for early detection in your community by visiting: knowyourlemons.org/volunteer
