A Soul Talk Samoa Trust and Samoa Cancer Society (S.C.S.) partnership is leading to assistance being provided to cancer patients needing help with palliative care.

Soul Talk Samoa Trust Co-founder, Reverend Dr. Alesana Pala'amo says their partnership with the society is to help in the palliative care of patients with cancer. 

"The Soul Talk Samoa Trust was looking for some way to help palliative care patients and the best way was to align with people already doing it, which is Samoa Cancer Society, " he said.

He said their President Lemau Pala'amo met with the C.E.O. of the Samoa Cancer Society, Papali'i Su'a John Ryan, where the Trust expressed interest in developing emotional and spiritual support for patients and their families, while the S.C.S. provides technical support like their nurses as well as other services.

Asked how the visitations for families with cancer patients have been thus far, Dr. Alesana highlighted the need for a palliative care center.

"The visitations have already begun and it has been an enriching experience for Lemau, who is our representative so you really see at this level the need for palliative care in Samoa," he said.

"It is all about dying gracefully and being at peace with the end of life and the focus is both for the patient and providing support for the carers and family members. 

"Spiritual questions may include why has God given this illness to us but we are faithful which is often asked by the patients and the caregivers themselves because they are watching their loved ones die.”

Dr. Alesana also said that their role is to remind people to have faith and that’s when Soul Talk comes in – not so much to reverse what has happened – but provide that missing link to remind people that God is there.

"God gives us life, he breathes life into us but when he calls us back we have to go back. It is not easy to accept as it is a very challenging time to be faced with the end. 

“But once we find that peace which we can identify as the grace of God, then not only for us the living but for the dying person who dies with dignity as we are preparing them to meet our maker, the giver of life.”

Dr. Alesana also made reference to some of the families whom the Trust has visited who are taking care of cancer patients.

He said they visited 10 families and some of them who were diagnosed with cancer were children. 

"So we have had visitations with 10 families and some of the cancer patients are children,” he said. 

“We have to debrief after each visit for our own self care. In these debriefs, it is where I was informed that even children as young as 6-years-old are cancer patients.” 

According to Dr. Alesana, the biggest message he has for the country is that the longer cancer is left unreported and undiagnosed, the harder it becomes for an intervention.

"There are so many cases in Samoa where we decide against treatment in place of traditional healing then after that we find that we are too late, as it is beyond help," he said.

"The President Lemau came across a lot of those, there is also an element of regret. 

“There is a lot of preventative work going around for cancer and we need to wake up and get ourselves checked up. 

“Although it is hard news, the benefit of early detection is that there are better chances to survive.”

Dr. Alesana also said that one of the biggest challenges is getting a cancer patient to understand that there are preventative measures which can help him or her.

"I do sense that there is fear of terminal illness because it is hard, but I suppose if we tackle that fear from the beginning that would help us address the inevitable. 

“There are hard stories but there are also blessed stories.

"With families, we come in after their loved ones have died to continue to help them cope, to give support to the faifeau (reverends) of the villages, who are also helping them.”

Lemau Pala'amo is the Soul Samoa Trust President with Dr. Alesana, who is currently  teaching at the EFKS Malua, the Co-founder. 

Papalii told the Samoa Observer that the S.C.S. has established a good working relationship with Soul Talk Samoa, to provide counselling support services for cancer patients and their families. 

"Being diagnosed with cancer is not something that any of us is prepared for, and this puts a huge amount of stress and anxiety on not just the patient, but also their families," he said.

"We are sensitive to the fact that we must have a holistic approach to patient care, which includes their mental health, and this is a positive step in the right direction. 

"We were really excited to have the Team at Soul Talk reach out to us to work collaboratively to expand on the support care that we currently provide, to include professional counselling services to our palliative care patients."